Uniquely Intertwined
by FlameRP
Summary: An ancient forgotten legend awakes to help the avatar once again, but meets another person who leads them to have their own life beyond their duty to help the avatar. [Trigger warning (for certain chapters)/fic based on a roleplay]
1. The 'Alien'

It was a stormy and frigid winter's day in Republic City, however the city still glinted in the limited light. The rain and clouds were the reason nobody saw the incoming object shoot over the city until it crashed into the earth a few hundred miles away with a massive boom and a huge shockwave that flattened trees and anything else that got in its path. A young lady called Shyla ran out of her house yelling "what the flameo!?" in surprise.

Shyla squinted, saw the shockwave in the distance and jumped on several citizens of Republic City to force them to the floor, yelling at others to get down. By the time the shockwave hit the city it had weakened enough to only knock a few trees over and dislodge a few roof tiles. Shyla earthbent a wall between the shockwave and the citizens, wrapping her arms around a few young children to protect them. Another loud explosion reverberated out, then complete silence returned. The shocked citizens slowly started talking again, about what happened, as the chief of the Republic City Police Department, Lin Beifong, walked up and surveyed the situation, taking note of the enormous plume of smoke and other debris in the distance and the damage to the city. After a few minutes of talking amongst themselves, one of the citizens started suggesting that someone should go and investigate, "I'll go" Shyla announced, Lin, who was also her mother, put her hand on Shyla's shoulder in an attempt to hold her back, the young and headstrong woman pushed her mother's hand off with a glance. "Stay, I don't want you hurt," Lin withdrew her hand and winced in discomfort at the situation.

*

Once she got to the city's port, Shyla clambered aboard a boat that was anchored there and directed the captain to go towards the origin of the fireball, and after Shyla paid him two hundred yuans as an incentive, he agreed to do so, taking her as far as the water allowed him to go. Shyla used her earthbending to enhance her running ability over the remaining distance.

Shyla arrived at the site of the fireball in record time, where she found nothing other than a massive crater. Shyla uttered an awed "woah", amazed at the size of the crater, which would easily encompass the entirety of Republic City, and had it landed on the city, nothing or nobody would've remained.

Suddenly a massive jet of fire erupted from the exact centre of the crater, forcing Shyla to shield herself from the intense heat and light with earthbending. Seconds after the jet of fire abruptly stopped, and a booming unearthly voice echoed over the surrounding area "name yourself!"

Shyla, slightly surprised that anything had survived in the area of the explosion, called out "Shyla," to which something jumped out of the crater in a single leap, summersaulted in mid-air and landed with its back to the young Shyla. Shyla dropped low into a bending stance, ready to react to an attack, when none was forthcoming, she grabbed the stranger.

"Why have you grabbed me?" a curious voice echoed around, followed immediately by a massive build-up of heat

"Shut up, hothead!" Shyla exclaimed before throwing the stranger

"Yea… throw the new girl" the voice echoed again, once again with the mysterious and strangely alien unearthly tone, a tone that subconsciously worried Shyla. The person, whose face was now visible, looked around at the surrounding area, "where the hell am I anyway!?" the young woman exclaimed

"Near Republic City," Shyla growled back

"ahh. Well, I guess anything's possible, I suppose" the mysterious woman replied

"what?" Shyla questioned, confused by the reply

"Ugh" the woman groaned, holding her head, "put that metal down, before someone gets hurt" she muttered, growling, not appreciating the show of hostility

"why?" Shyla grunted, mistrusting of the newcomer

"because FIRE melts METAL," the stranger replied, irritated by Shyla's apparent ignorance of such things. "I don't fight unless I have to" she added in an attempt to cease hostilities.

"Scram!" Shyla shouted before preparing to bend at the newcomer

"Or…?" the stranger asked ominously and maliciously, "How old are you, kid?" she inquired, thinking that however old the other young woman was, she was too young to die today.

"Like it's your business" Shyla replied sassily

"True…" the stranger muttered, she raised her voice a bit "why do you think I'm a threat to you? Is it something to do with the flames? Or the crater?"

"the crater, the shockwave" Shyla replied not entirely sure anymore whether this person was a threat to her and her city or not

"Yes, I do have a bit of a headache from that" the stranger replied, pondering. "maybe you should try landing on your head?"

Shyla was utterly confused by the newcomer's latest reply, "What?" Shyla asked, her confusion completely evident

"shall I help you?" the stranger replied with clear hostility, "it'll be easy, I just carry you to a great height and…" she grinned mischievously "let go," the stranger growled back at Shyla, who had been growling at the stranger when she wasn't talking, "or you could continue trying to threaten someone who has made no aggressive moves towards you"

"you hurt the city!" Shyla exclaimed in annoyance

"What would have happened if I had landed on your city?" the stranger inquired

"Destruction" the one word answer from Shyla was enough.

"Exactly. So, I landed here." The stranger rubbed her head in discomfort, "although, the city may have been a softer landing," she looked directly into Shyla's wide green eyes, to Shyla, it felt as if Derpina's purple gaze was penetrating into her soul. "I have done nothing offensive against you or your people, so drop that metal before you do something stupid." At that, Shyla dropped the piece of metal she was holding in a bending stance. "probably the wisest decision you've ever made!" the stranger smiled slightly at Shyla, before looking around, "we are not alone" she declared.

"What?" Shyla replied, again confused.

"Exactly what I said," the stranger confirmed, "there's others here"

"and…?"

"they are here to capture me"

"who?" Shyla asked, wondering at who could be after someone who didn't even know that Republic City had existed until she told her

"How am I supposed to know?" the stranger grunted in annoyance, irritated by Shyla's assumption that she knew who was after her when she had only just arrived, "were you followed?" she asked

"No!" Shyla yelled, also annoyed

"You were not followed, youngster?"

"Just me" Shyla confirmed

The stranger's head turned in apparent interest, "hmm," as two people jumped out from behind Shyla

"Grab her! She's the best chance we have of getting our friends in jail freed!" the two men grabbed Shyla and jabbed her with something, she fell to the floor growling

"she can't bend now!" another man exclaimed, victoriously before he noticed the stranger, "hey whatever, grab that firebender too!"

"Firebender?" the stranger inquired, "you must have me mixed up with someone else," the stranger turned around and saw Shyla on the floor unconscious due to the drug.

*

The stranger's attitude changed almost instantly, from someone innocent, to someone who looked as if they knew exactly how to defend themselves. "Grrrrr…" the stranger growled, "get the hell away from her!!" the stranger roared before conjuring up blue fire in both hands and using it in a deadly first strike to incinerate one of the attackers instantly. The roar caused Shyla to stir slightly from her drug induced stupor, while Shyla groaned, the other attacker was being incinerated by another precision attack from the mysterious woman. After causing the instantaneous death of both of the attackers, the stranger picked Shyla up and started running as fast as she could towards the city, ignoring the five other men pursuing, although she faltered, slightly surprised, when Shyla gripped her tightly. The stranger smiled slightly "oh, hi, you're awake…"

Shyla, also surprised to be in the arms of the stranger who she had threatened what felt like mere minutes ago, but were in fact hours, exclaimed "yes. What the hell!?"

"I saved you" came the abrupt reply, the stranger was still concentrating on outrunning the pursuers

"how?"

"easy. They couldn't stand the heat" the stranger replied, smiling in amusement

"so corny," Shyla muttered but couldn't stop herself from smiling

"shitty joke I know" the stranger laughed, smiling with Shyla, before returning to seriousness, "Who were they?" she asked

"chiblockers" the weakened woman replied

"uhhh… who?"

"People who block bending" Shyla looked slightly worried

"oh, I'm guessing evil?" when Shyla wasn't forthcoming with an answer, the stranger added "I certainly hope so as I kinda did what I'm supposed to do to bad people"

"well it's not your jurisdiction" Shyla retorted irritated by the vigilante justice that she had just witnessed being handed out

"now I'm here it kinda is" the stranger declared, completely missing out on the fact that Shyla was irritated

"well the police…" Shyla began, only to be interrupted mid-sentence

"I fight evil with fire. It's my purpose," and added, sneering slightly, "or are you going to have me arrested?" she shook her head to try to reduce the feelings of frustration she felt, before continuing "they were a small nuisance, I'm here for something else, it's my duty to return when evil does." She snarled down at the young woman, the anger bubbling to the surface for a moment "I didn't have to save you, I could've let them take you. But that is not my way."

"well evil's gone" Shyla muttered, slightly worried by the anger her mysterious companion showed, even if she had no conscious idea why

"I wouldn't be here if it was"

"Well what do you want?" Shyla asked, yet again confused by the stranger

"nothing yet…" the stranger replied, to Shyla she seemed determined to be surrounded in as much mystery as possible, "where's your city? Should probably get you to safety, they'll be back"

"straight ahead" Shyla muttered bluntly

*

The stranger sped up briefly, before being forced to jump high into the air to avoid an incoming arrow. "damn it!" she exclaimed before spinning around in mid-air, landing facing backwards into running backwards, once she had landed she started throwing fire at her attackers, causing them to scatter

"put me down and let me at 'em!" Shyla growled angrily, reluctantly starting to feel a bond between herself and her mysterious stranger

"you cannot bend" the stranger replied calmly "I'm not risking the life of a youngster." She smirked "besides, you still haven't answered my question, how old are you?"

"youngster! I'm twenty!" Shyla snapped

"Well I'm pretty old. I may not LOOK it but if I was twenty I would be considered a baby"

"how old are you?"

The stranger paused to think for a few seconds, while continuing to run backwards and lob fireballs at any would-be attacker, "I… I'm not sure" she said honestly, "I was reborn in the heart of a hypergiant star, though that was a few months ago… I think"

"so, you're alien?" Shyla whispered

"not exactly"

"well space?"

"again, not exactly. I die when I'm not needed and am reborn when I am… a long time ago I was ordinary…ish"

"ish?" Shyla inquired, the hereditary detective instinct in her trying to find out all she can about the newcomer

"I was more like you, able to control an element, fire, more than normal, but not to the degree I can now"

"how did you get more powerful"

"I… don't know. It happened randomly I guess. I… kinda remember the first time… someone killed someone close to me… a friend and I got so angry I ended up burning a whole forest and three towns down" the stranger looked down, pained, "nobody survived… all my friends, all my family"

"you have no one" Shyla whispered softly

"that was many many years ago…" the stranger said sadly, "it kinda changed me and my abilities"

"how?"

"I grew more powerful. That death caused my rage that burned down an entire forest and so caused all the deaths of everyone I loved." she paused for a minute, the memories burning her mind like the forest burned, "which made me even more angry, my abilities increased and I ran away. Spent years at sea before something that I can't quite remember happened, after that I don't know how it happened but I suddenly knew what I had to do, I went to a nearby town and transferred some of my powers into a few of the children there, then set myself on fire. From then on I was to be reborn in a hypergiant star whenever evil rose and I was to fight it, and was to die again when I was no longer needed"

"I see…"

"What am I?" the stranger inquired

"I don't know" Shyla replied sadly, one of the pursuing attackers got hit by one of the stranger's fireballs, "a firebender" Shyla said, hoping to help the stranger by letting them know at least some of their identity

"I may have been originally… but am I one still?" the stranger asked

"so you are"

"would a firebender be reborn after death?" the stranger asked sceptically, when she got no reply she continued, "your name is Shyla?"

"Yes, why?"

"I am Flame, or Derpina to my friends" the stranger smiled at Shyla before putting her down, "can you walk?" she asked concernedly

"yes" Shyla took a few steps to prove that she could, more to herself than to her mysterious friend, who had an unusual name

Derpina smiled at Shyla managing to walk, "can't be more than a few miles to your city" she stated calmly.

"I know."

The pair walked in silence until they were on the outskirts of the city, "hmm, hothead…" Derpina pondered, "I quite like that"

"what?" Shyla inquired

"what you called me"

"Oh." Shyla laughed

"it's true though" Derpina grinned

"you're pretty temperamental" Shyla agreed

"you should see me when I'm fighting"

"oh?" Shyla hummed, intrigued

"I really am a hothead then" Derpina laughed

"nothing wrong with that" Shyla smiled happily

"just you wait" Derpina muttered, "if anyone asks, I'm Derpina the firebender, not Flame whatever the hell I am…" she looked irritated at not being able to remember her past, "I need to get where I'm going before who I am gets out. If anyone remembers me, that is"

"where's that?"

"that's the problem"

"what?" Shyla muttered, still stymied by her mysterious friend

"I don't know. Everything has changed since I was here. I don't even know where 'here' is"

"you were here?"

"I don't know"

"how"

"I was last alive probably a few hundred years ago. Where are you going, perhaps someone there can help? Know what the hell I'm supposed to do now I'm here"

"I don't know"

"can you tell me what's happened in the past few hundred years. Why don't we find somewhere to sit down and you can tell me?"

"sure" Shyla grunted, looking forward to a sit down after her run in with the chiblockers earlier that day

"and why were those people after you?" Derpina asked, almost as if she could sense what Shyla was thinking

"they hate everyone"

"fair enough" Derpina replied with a shrug "over there!" she exclaimed, having pointed at a gap between buildings

"what about it?" Shyla asked, her question was answered seconds later when an arrow shot out of the gap and nearly struck Derpina. Had Shyla not pulled her to the ground, Derpina would've been hit

More men streamed from several gaps between buildings, Derpina frowned, "let me at 'em, they're probably the same people as before"

"take 'em as a team" Shyla retorted

"they probably have some of that poison stuff" Derpina muttered with worry

"what poison?"

"that stuff that made you unable to bend?" Derpina reminded Shyla

"no, they blocked me" Shyla replied

"huh?"

"they blocked my chi"

"then you're at risk, stay here" Derpina insisted. Derpina ran forward towards the attackers, and was hit in the arm by an arrow, Shyla muttered an expletive as Derpina pulled it out after muttering "ah crap" through gritted teeth

"careful!!" Shyla exclaimed when Derpina pulled the arrow out of her arm, only to look amazed when Derpina threw the arrow and she exclaimed "impressive!" when the arrow penetrated cleanly through an attacker's femoral artery, as he fell to the floor dying with blood spurting out of the wound, Shyla muttered "damn" in surprise and shock

*

Angered by the death of his comrade, one ran out to avenge him, and was only momentarily put off by Derpina's growl of warning, however, he quickly changed direction when Shyla started to chase him, earning a worried "Shyla, no!" from Derpina, who promptly started running after her.

Unfortunately, Shyla either didn't hear the yell of warning or chose to ignore it and another attacker hit her on the head with a shovel of some kind. Shyla was lying on the floor at an awkward angle, her head bleeding, "SHYLA!!!" Derpina yelled in anger and worry before lobbing a fireball powerful enough to blast the attacking man through a thick wall of a house about twenty metres away, disturbing the occupants' lunch. But Derpina had picked Shyla up and ran off before the unfortunate individuals could even get out of their chairs to see what the commotion was, or who had thrown that badly disgruntled man through their wall.

Shyla flopped around groaning in Derpina's arms while she ran. After running for a while, Derpina eventually jumped through an upstairs window of one of the many buildings and quickly deposited Shyla on a bed she had spotted in the room. Derpina, cursing indistinctly under her breath, sat down next to the injured girl and gently placed her hand on her head when a nightmare of things past came to haunt the unfortunate girl, Derpina instinctively caused the nightmare to burn up and be replaced with happier memories and dreams of the future.

*

When Shyla woke up after her most recent injury, the first thing she saw was Derpina cleaning and bandaging her various wounds. Even though Derpina had been up all night to regularly change Shyla's bandages and clean her wounds, she wasn't at all fatigued. "Ow…" Shyla winced.

Shyla's eyes opened and immediately she was blinded by the bright light of a sunny winter morning, spots appeared in front of her eyes when she tried to sit up, only to be restrained by Derpina. "good morning," Derpina smiled, "don't move too much yet" Shyla winced and just about managed to get out "good morning," before she dry heaved into a bucket from her head injury the previous day

"just finishing covering your injuries" Derpina explained, before she stuck the last dressing pad to her side and covered it with bandages. Derpina pointed at the stairs and smiled kindly "I can help you walk, if that's what you want" she shook her head sadly "where do we have to go, Shyla? I've patched your injuries up the best I can"

"away"

Derpina blinked "where to?"

Shyla shrugged and walked slowly out of the room, concealing her discomfort, she looked back over her shoulder "stay here, I'm going to go home and ask my mom to come here and see if she can help. She's a detective, if anyone can find out about your past, it's her"

"otay," the still mysterious Derpina replied.


	2. The Boyfriend

It was a number of hours later, after Shyla had visited her mother at the police station and discussed Derpina at length, although largely unsuccessfully since there seemed to be no records of Derpina or any descendants anywhere, that she returned home, intending to ask her other mother to make some food for her to take back to her friend. It was as soon as she entered the house that she knew something was wrong, but what she saw when she entered the kitchen was something she would never forget.

Shyla ran out of her house in terror, traumatised by what she had seen and did not stop running until she had reached the house where she had left her new friend, she ran inside, slamming the door with her foot in her haste to get upstairs to her friend only to find that Derpina wasn't there.

*

Derpina had left the house almost immediately after Shyla had left, having ignored her wishes. She had felt a strange pull to explore the city and had passed by Shyla's street unknowingly, noting the police presence around one of the houses before she continued and found her way to the central park, where Shyla had ran up behind her.

"Wha…?!" Derpina exclaimed when Shyla collapsed at her feet, crying "Shyla?! What's wrong?!" Derpina exclaimed as she picked her distraught friend up off of the ground.

"he… he… he… k… killed… her" Shyla stuttered, not bothering to voice the fact that she was a little worried about the stranger called Derpina. As a cop, she had spent countless hours looking after and looking for strangers,perspectiveshe berated herself when she had realised she had been worried about Derpina when her own mother was lying dead on the floor of her house

"Wha…?? Who killed who??" Derpina growled, sparks flying from her hands

"Someone killed my mom!" Shyla exclaimed before bursting into tears again, making an effort not to say 'him' again, as she didn't know if it had been him for sure

Derpina got angrier, her rage now fully visible in her eyes, "take me there, NOW!" she exclaimed, "We'll have to be quick"

"they got away" Shyla murmured

"I can find them… but I bet I know a few things about fire that the Fire Sages themselves don't know" Derpina snarled

"What? How?"

"just trust me. You have certain things that you try to do when you cause the death of your whole village. I managed it… in the end, but I was too late." Derpina sighed sadly

"I was too late" Shyla cried

"where is your mother… I have a SLIGHT chance" Derpina winced at her friend's crying

"she's in shock" Shyla looked baffled by Derpina's confused expression

"I thought you said your mom's dead?"

"I meant my other mother"

"two moms?" Derpina inquired "otay not enough time to argue, just take me there… and quickly"

"arguing? And come on"

Derpina looked a bit unsure of herself "or discuss or explain or whatever. You try spending spirit knows how many years in the heart of a star, I'm sorry I'm still a tad… slow at the moment." Derpina takes off running after Shyla, "a relationship between two of the same gender wasn't really… uh… allowed last time I walked on this planet, how things have changed, for the better." She shook her head and grinned happily due to this information. "what I'm going to try you're not going to believe. I'll try to explain after I have tried… no time before."

"Whatever," Shyla muttered, brushing her off

*

A few minutes later they had stopped outside an average-looking building "Are we there?" she recognised the street as the one she had passed before, and the house was the exact same one that she had felt had stood out to her before, _I wonder..._ she mused to herself, wondering why she had noticed this house, she must've passed at least half a dozen others that had a cop car outside them

"Yes"

Derpina looked sad, but determined, "You'd better go first, Shyla" she paused for a second, "this will be hard for you to imagine right now and I want to explain it to you, alone." Shyla walked into the destruction-filled house followed closely by Derpina who closed her eyes for a few seconds, saddened that people were still as fuelled by hate as they were in the past. Another woman sat next to the one lying at a weird position on the floor, the woman sitting was crying, which only intensified when Shyla knelt next to her and held her in a tight hug. A few minutes later, Shyla returned to Derpina's side, "Shyla, I'm going to try something now… something that will help you but will be amazing for you to see," she dropped her voice to a whisper, "keep your other mother back though, wait, what's the name of the dead one, and which ones that?" she indicated the one lying on the floor, "I never asked for their names."

"Monika's the dead one," she gasped, trying to hold back sobs, "that one's Lin" Derpina couldn't help but feel as if she already knew their names.

 _Spirits!_ Derpina gasped, having realised that she did indeed recognise the names, _I can sense Shyla's thoughts!_ She stepped back slightly slightly overwhelmed by this information and the distant clamour of voices she now heard in the background, she heard the argument next door, felt the joy of the child playing earthbending soccer outside and experienced the grief of the woman called Lin

After nodding, Derpina turned to Monika, "step back a bit, Shyla, it might get warm in here."

Shyla stepped back nervously, "what the hell?!" Lin yelped in surprise when Derpina created blue fire in her hands and placed her hands on Monika's cold corpse, after a few minutes Monika started to glow blue too

"c'mon dammit!" Derpina muttered, concentrating, there was no other noise, Lin and Shyla's breathing was too shallow and slight to be heard. When Monika stopped glowing blue, Lin and Shyla were astounded to see that she was breathing normally. Derpina stood up, but swayed slightly on her feet, exhausted, "I forgot how taxing that could be," she groaned although after a moment she backed off slightly so Shyla and Lin could be reunited with Monika, who was still out cold.

Shyla ran forward with a gasp, "y... you brought her back. H… how did you do that?"

"fire is not a destructive force, if you know how to use it correctly" Derpina stated calmly, "I am Flame, the purest firebender. And the… strength of my abilities were enhanced somewhat by stuff long past" she smiled at Shyla's expression of awe, "healing. Only the purest firebenders have that ability, with a little spirit power thrown in, I'm not sure exactly how it works" she explained, Derpina had unknowingly pulled Monika's spirit back from the spirit world where everyone's spirit resided for a time, usually a few hours, before continuing on

Derpina's smile lingered for a few more seconds, before it hardened into anger. "Right. Now… gotta get… him," the rage in Derpina's eyes gained a mystic quality to them and she stepped forwards into the light, red fire appearing in both of her hands

"where do you think he went?" Shyla questioned her

"I don… hang on, what's that on your face, Shyla?" Derpina reached out and wiped some make up off of a concealed bruise under Shyla's right eye

"Nothing!" Shyla exclaimed quietly before covering her eye and cheek with her hand.

Derpina looked sternly at her new friend, "tell me, Shy" she demanded

"I can't," Shyla looked defeated, her hopes rose slightly when Derpina used her shortened name though

"Unless you tell me that's not what I think it is, then I've got another bastard to hunt down" Derpina snarled with venom

"it's nothing" Shyla reiterated to which Derpina growled slightly, a warning.

"I cannot help if I don't know" Derpina muttered, so that Lin wouldn't hear

"I don't want you to!" Shyla exclaimed quietly

Derpina sighed, slightly sad at her friend's refusal to accept help, "I don't think this attack was a random one" Derpina growled

"What?"

"Exactly what I said, so I need to know"

"no" Shyla mumbled

"someone is targeting your family," Derpina destroyed an arrow with a burst of fire as it flew through the window towards Lin. "see?"

Shyla ducked instinctively, not seeing that the arrow was already destroyed, "what the hell!?" she exclaimed as she hit the floor

"so…" Derpina lowers her voice to a whisper as two strangers passed the house "tell me what's going on?"

"Why?"

"so I can work this out…" Derpina paused and look around, growling "hmm dusk, a perfect time," before she dropped to the floor to avoid the blade of a sword that had been swung at her previous position

"a perfect time for wh… dammit!" Shyla exclaimed as two masked assassins climbed through the windows and rushed at her, only to be struck down by blue fireballs, the strikes were precision shots since nothing else was damaged other than the two assassins who had burnt to death as quckly as the others Derpina had killed

Shyla got her blade out and readied to fight, Derpina put her hand on Shyla's shoulder, "will you PLEASE tell me what's going on!?" Derpina exclaimed before pushing Shyla back into the house, she used a quick blast of firebending to shut all the blinds and shutters on the windows, and kicked the door shut. "you can do it quietly, nobody else needs know," Derpina whispered

"It's my boyfriend" Shyla whispered back

Derpina snarled loudly, "makes perfect sense now!" she got up and got ready to walk through the door in pursuit of her prey

"please don't do anything. He'll hurt us!" Shyla whimpered

"not while I'm around he won't!" Derpina growled, before pointing at Lin and Monika, "he's doing this, I know he is, I can tell." _I am a bloody telepath after all!_ She barely managed to contain the urge to blast the roof off the house and pursue her enemy from the sky, "Beifong family, a powerful family, right?" Shyla nodded, "so you'd be a great catch for him, money and looks. If your family is a threat, he is going after them to get to you, he's already shown how far he'll go to keep you!" Derpina's anger surfaced again, resulting in another guttural snarl, "can you risk your life?" she looks Shyla in the eyes, "can you risk theirs?" Derpina pointed at Lin and Monika's, "for him?"

"I can't leave" Shyla murmured, reaching for her stomach

"and the final peace of the puzzle…" Derpina shook her head in anger, "that's how he controls you. He's sick, Shy, he's sick"

"He's my baby's father, what do you expect me to do?"

"he's no good Shy, or how many more near misses do there have to be? Or perhaps not a near miss, I can't protect everyone"

"I don't know what to do Derpina… I'm scared"

Derpina opened her arms wide, "come here"

Shyla walked into Derpina's arms quickly, "I'm afraid, Derpina"

Derpina wrapped her arms tightly around Shyla, "I promise I'll protect you" Derpina smiled reassuringly, "I bet I've got a few tricks you haven't seen yet… does the Beifong family have a house in the mountains?"

"Yea" Shyla affirmed, "we go there when we need to"

"now is one of those times" Derpina stated with finality, "tell your mothers we will move in fifteen minutes"

"you're coming too?" Shyla inquired

"how else do you expect to get there?" Derpina deadpanned, to which Shyla hugged her tightly

Derpina smiled mischievously, "remember how we first met a day or two ago?"

"yea. How could I forget? You almost blew my city up"

"you caught me off balance and off guard" Derpina grinned

Shyla nudged Derpina playfully, "whatever" she smiled innocently

"I landed on my head!" Derpina exclaimed before pushing her back gently, causing Shyla to stick her tongue out at Derpina and Derpina to blow a raspberry back. "C'mon you, let's go and tell your mothers we're moving in fifteen minutes"

"alright" Shyla smiled and went to see both her mothers, "okay guys we are going away for a while"

"how?" Lin inquired, "it'll take days to get to the mountains and Monika," who groaned on the mention of her name, "isn't exactly in a fit state to travel"

"Derpina, what do you think?" Shyla asked, turning to her friend

"I have a plan…" Derpina's eyes lit up with mischief, "ever flown anywhere?"

"no, well maybe…" Shyla replied

"flown Flame airlines?" Derpina grinned

"What are you getting at here?"

"I need a field, somewhere open. Or perhaps the balcony of this building if its big enough

"okay. It's out there" Shyla pointed, "let's go!"

*

Derpina walked out and clambered onto the balcony rail, wobbling slightly, "hmm last time I did this was ages ago," Derpina gave one final wobble after she bent down before she lost her balance and falling off the balcony rail with a cry of "shißer!"

"oh spirits!" Shyla screamed before jumping forwards and using her cables to try to hook the falling Derpina's leg, but before she could get a grip with a cable, Derpina rose by herself, being supported by massive darkly coloured wings that looked similar to dragon's wings but much larger when compared to the woman who floated in midair, the wings had trace amounts of fire around the edges and were clearly creating their own thermal upcurrents. "so close to being a hero" Shyla mused, disappointed.

"I am no hero, Shyla" the echoey quality to Derpina's voice was back again, she looked around, "I'm terribly sorry, one of you are gonna have to ride piggyback, I've only got two arms" Derpina winked at Shyla, "in case you were wondering"

Everyone looked at Lin as she stepped forwards, "take Monika"

"probably wise" Derpina said nodding, she let Shyla and Lin put Monika on her back and secure her, "ready?" Derpina muttered before she grabbed both Lin and Shyla around the waist and rose on a massive heat current emanating from her wings

"Woah!" Shyla exclaimed

"ready, Shy?" Derpina inquired

"do it!" Shyla yelled over the wind. Derpina immediately flapped her wings once and suddenly they were a few hundred feet off the ground and soaring in the general direction of the mountains, the sun glinted off of the city behind them.

Shyla grabbed Derpina tighter as they soared through the air prompting Derpina to hand her a bag she had grabbed on her way out, "in case air travel doesn't agree with you," Shyla smiled her thanks, "why don't you all fill me in on what's been happening in the past two hundred years or so? This flight will take a few hours"

"what's there to explain" yelled Shyla

"well anything, as I haven't been here for… well I don't know how long"

"where have you been?" Lin yelled, wondering who the stranger who called herself Derpina was

"asleep. For a very long time" Derpina replied

"Well… where to start…" Shyla wondered

"I believe the last time I was here I met a youngish boy in the depths of a forest. He was in serious danger from, well, a spirit"

"what was his name?" Shyla questioned

"dammit I can never remember!" Derpina growled

"well then"

"what?"

"I don't know where to start explaining"

"start from the beginning or should I bore you to death with what happened that day?" Derpina laughed

"tell me" Shyla commanded

"that kid found his way into a sacred spirit clearing caused some mischief and the spirits were angry, I arrived just in time to save the kid and calm the spirit" Derpina explained

"calm the spirit?" Shyla muttered

"yea? Was that important?"

"not now no"

Derpina continued flying towards the mountains, not bothering to slow or take a break, she didn't really need to either, "then there was a massive battle and the kid stepped in and helped the spirit"

"what did he look like?" Shyla said, surprised

"why is it so important?" Derpina wondered aloud

"I might know who he was"

"it would be useful. Names weren't exactly used in the confrontation" Derpina muttered, her curiosity rising by the minute

"so…?"

"how am I supposed to know who the kid was?" Derpina said, the irritation she felt towards the kid still apparent, "to me he was just a nosy little kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. He almost got us both killed, or worse, the whole world had he pissed that spirit off just a little more"

"it doesn't matter" Shyla replied, wondering just how long this woman had been asleep

"c'mon tell me you got me curious now. And it might help me work out how long I missed"

"there was a war, your nation attacked" Shyla said quietly, worried how Derpina would react

"what? when?"

"one hundred and seventy years ago"

"so, that was the start or the end?"

"start"

"I'm almost scared to ask, but… it ended?"

"it did"

"when? How long ago?"

"seventy odd years ago"

"not that long ago then. I'm still wondering who the hell this kid was… the thing that was going on felt important but it was spirit stuff"

"maybe he was an avatar" Shyla asked

"come again?" Derpina muttered

"an avatar" Shyla repeated

"a what?"

"master of all four elements"

"more people can do that now?" Derpina asked, slightly surprised, "woah I must've been out of it for hundreds of years"

"you were" Shyla confirmed, "or rather, possibly thousands"

"hmm…" Derpina pondered, "I was told by that spirit I would return if something couldn't be fixed easily. I was told I was the only trustworthy one"

"you are?" Shyla inquired

"what am I doing here then? Can you tell me? And who the damn hell was this kid? If you even think you knew who he was, from that long ago, then he must be like the most important person to live for ten thousand years or something"

"I don't know!" Shyla exclaimed in frustration

"you don't know who the kid was? Just take a guess."

"Avatar Wan" Shyla replied quietly

"the second bit sounds vaguely familiar…" Derpina acknowledged

"the first Avatar!" Shyla exclaimed

"black hair? A firebender like me? Freaky eyes?" Derpina asked hurriedly

"yes"

"that's the kid!"

"WOW!" Shyla exclaimed, waking the other two, both of whom went for their weapons. "Guys, easy." Shyla said, putting her hands on their arms

"Wha…? What's going on??" Monika groaned

"story telling" Shyla explained

"no wonder we both fell asleep then, hey Lin?" both Lin and Monika laugh, "oh alright," she muttered at Shyla's look, "tell us BRIEFLY what you were talking about"

"Avatar Wan" Shyla smiled

"Yeah? The usual stuff?" Lin wondered "that battle I'm guessing. As we have no idea how old our friend here is… bringing her up to speed?"

After she flapped her wings once to increase their speed and height, Derpina returned to the conversation. "so, this Wan kid grew up to do… what exactly?"

"be the Avatar" Shyla repeated herself

"you still haven't explained what the Avatar does"

Derpina was interrupted by Lin, "you knew Avatar Wan as a kid?" she asked, slightly skeptically

"that's what she's saying" Shyla confirmed. With this new information sinking in, Lin stopped and stared at Derpina, while Shyla shook her head in amazement

"What?" Derpina grunted in irritation

"this is just crazy!" Shyla exclaimed

"how long was I out of it?"

"A pretty damn long time!" Shyla exclaimed in wonderment. _Ten thousand years…_ Derpina heard Lin think to herself

"felt like a long time" Derpina agreed "but at the same time it didn't"

*

The sun had dropped lower in the sky and was nearly touching the horizon by the time they flew over the mountains. "Shy, where's the house, we're now over the mountains" Derpina asked. Shyla pointed at a small building concealed on the side of the mountain and Derpina swooped low over it and landed perfectly in the garden of what was now clearly a mansion. "Journey's end" Derpina grinned, her wings vanished into nothingness before she let go of Lin and Shyla, they both immediately turned and untied Monika from Derpina's back, who staggered away and threw up on a flower bed. Derpina blushed, embarrassed, "whoops I'm so sorry" she muttered.

Looking sick, Shyla managed to mutter "spirits bless" before she threw up after warning away Derpina's request for a hug. Derpina and the others ran forward to Shyla, but Derpina got there first and put her arms around Shyla, who coughed once and went limp in her arms.

"Shy! Shy! Shy!" Derpina whispered, before lowering her to the ground

"this baby is killing me!" Shyla said weakly

"what's happening!?" Derpina exclaimed with worry

"severe morning sickness plus total exhaustion" Lin offered as an explanation

Derpina put her hands into a more comfortable position on Shyla's back and whispered "you're the first friend I've had Shy. In a very long time since I was a child when… I lost control"

"that's really… not good" Shyla spluttered, slowly regaining some of the colour in her face

"so please don't pass out on me!" Derpina exclaimed, placing her hand on Shyla's forehead, causing it to glow blue and Shyla visibly improved. "Better?"

"much. Thank you" Shyla smiled, scrambled to her feet and walked inside the mansion

Derpina followed her friend in and sat on the floor near the chair Shyla had chosen, "so, this war then… tell me a bit about it?"

"Fire Nation attacked"

"those damn Fire Lords!" Derpina exclaimed before she sighed

"he wanted control" Shyla explained

"damn him!" Derpina growled angrily, "how many died?"

"I don't know" Shyla replied, hugging Derpina comfortingly

"kinda makes me ashamed to be a firebender" Derpina acknowledged before sighing and bowing her head

"don't, the war is over and everyone lives in peace" Shyla replied, trying to reassure her friend

"it still happened!" Derpina growled, anguished. "why wasn't I called back for that? I could've flattened any Fire Lord!"

"I don't know"

"I was told that 'when the cycle is broken, I was to be called upon to restore it'" Derpina muttered as one of the servants ran past

"So, you're an angel?" Shyla marvelled

"A what?" Derpina questioned

"Angel"

"no. I was selected by that spirit to ensure that if 'the' cycle is broken, that spirit said Wan was the first, I would be called upon to repair, or 'restore' the cycle" Derpina gasped, more memories returning to her

"How?"

"I have no clue. I guess I'll just know what to do when the time comes. What cycle was the spirit referring to?" Derpina probed further, not wanting to lose the momentum they had gathered

"Avatar cycle I think"

"what Avatar is it at the moment? You said Wan was the first, so there have been more?"

"at this moment? Avatar Korra"

"I'll have to meet her? Him? One day soon" Derpina questioned

"her. And you will"

"cos I have the feeling that something bad's gonna happen soon, that's most likely why I got summoned" Derpina announced, concerned

"well you'll need to go back to Republic City" Shyla said quietly, and nervously

"will Lin and Monika stay here? And it'd be better if you did too"

"yea. No offense but I can't"

"why can't you?"

"did you not see what happened when we got here?"

"what do you mean?"

"my vomiting"

"even more reason for you to stay here out of harm's way. Can't risk your baby, or you" Derpina replied, concern emanating from her

"thanks. Be careful"

"actually, I have no idea where the Avatar is… so… I guess you're coming along"

"like I know either"

"you can show me around. Perhaps take me to the people who would know. So, do you wanna tag along?"


	3. Korra

"Let's go!" Derpina opened her arms for Shyla to hug her while they flew. Her wings appeared once Shyla was comfortable, and, flapping them once, they were again propelled skyward. Shyla held Derpina tightly as they flew, not looking down and tightening her grip the moment Derpina asked her to. Once she was sure Shyla was holding on as tight as she could, massive jets of fire shot out of Derpina's feet, propelling them at an incredible speed back towards Republic City. "why is meeting Korra so important?!" Shyla screamed, terrified.

"we have to get there before sunrise! I also don't know how long we've got before shit starts. I don't know what this shit is. The Avatar, is Wan still around?"

"no, he's long dead"

"dammit!" Derpina shouted, frustrated beyond belief, "any way to talk to him or the spirit?"

"you gotta be an Avatar to get into the spirit world" Shyla said, trying to calm her friend with a pat on the back

"do none of the old ways exist?" Derpina groaned then sighed in frustration

"new age" Shyla replied, shrugging

"true, I guess this Korra is the only way without creating outrage and a news story out of myself"

"that or the complete opposite"

"what?" Derpina yelled over a sudden gust of wind

"you could cause it!" Shyla screamed back

"what do you mean?"

"you could cause an outrage"

Derpina scoffed, "if I was going to cause the disaster, I would not have been summoned. I'm not sure the white spirit would be that stupid"

"are you sure you were 'summoned' exactly?" Shyla questioned

"certain. Not many people can wake someone from such a long slumber, of what however many thousand years, or those in the heart of a hypergiant star" Derpina stated, no doubt in her mind that she was supposed to be there.

"it could happen" Shyla tried pushing harder

"I guess, you don't believe in Flame…" Derpina muttered sadly.

*

"and we're here!" Derpina flipped over in mid-air and landed on her feet, leaving no evidence that she'd ever been in flight except a small crater of glass where the sand had melted

"so?" Shyla inquired

"we're back in Republic City. Take me to the person who's most likely to know where the Avatar is"

"I don't know where she is" Shyla thought for a few minutes, "let's start at Air Temple Island"

"sure" Derpina nodded, "sun's rising, no more flying" she added as the sky lightened slightly

"how do we get back!?" Shyla squeaked, panicked

"wait until this evening" Derpina reassured her, "once we've found the Avatar. After you" Derpina gestured for Shyla to lead the way to Air Temple Island

"we need to swim" Shyla said, indicating the island a few hundred feet out in the harbour

"that's otay" Derpina smiled, "and no need to worry about wet clothes either!" she laughed

"what?"

"I'm a firebender remember!" Derpina grinned widely, "I can dry our clothes with a wave of my hand!" she waved her hand and a gust of warm air rushed over Shyla.

"Woah!" Shyla exclaimed, knocked back a step or two by the force of the air

"you saw what happened when I got here, that was easy! C'mon!" with that last word, Derpina turned and sprinted towards the beautifully clear blue water. Derpina jumped in without hesitation, closely followed by Shyla, who took her time and was more dignified about getting into the water, having gently lowered herself in rather than the running jump off of the harbour railings that Derpina did to get in the water closer to Air Temple Island. Once Shyla was in the water, Derpina splashed her gently. "haven't been in the water for years" she admitted

"me too!" Shyla agreed, laughing

Derpina laughed with her, "I may be twenty, but I'm still a kid at heart!"

She smiled before turning back to the island, "c'mon let's go!" she shouted back before swimming towards the island, followed by a quickly tiring Shyla at a slower pace than Derpina's rocket speed. "Keep up!" Derpina called, laughing. A few minutes later, Derpina, realising she'd left her friend far behind, slowed down only to be splashed by Shyla as she swam past as fast as she could. "Hoi!" Derpina yelped and shot off after her.

"cheater!" Shyla called once Derpina had caught up.

"how am I?"

Shyla pointed out the torrent of bubbles erupting from her feet, indicating the water had been speed boiled "firebending"

"damn" Derpina grinned sheepishly, having been caught red handed, "but you never said it was a race!" Derpina held out her hand for Shyla who took it, causing Derpina to smile widely. "we're almost there!" Derpina cried triumphantly

"Okay" Shyla smiled

Shyla felt her hand warm slightly due to the happy firebender, Derpina then took her other hand and pulled Shyla onto her back, "faster!" she crowed, causing Derpina to erupt jets of fire out of her feet to propel them towards the beach at high speed. "WOO!!" Shyla screamed

Just before they arrived on the beach, Derpina called out "having fun?" to which Shyla nodded enthusiastically

*

"that was great!" Shyla exclaimed once they were safely on the beach

"maybe again soon?" Derpina asked Shyla, who nodded, "how's the bump doing? The baby?"

"doing fine" Shyla replied calmly with a smile

"can I?" Derpina raised a hand towards Shyla's bump and placed the hand on the bump once she had nodded, her hand glowed blue momentarily and she took it away, "your baby is extremely healthy"

"of course it is" Shyla scoffed, "it's a Beifong"

"just wanted to check" Derpina replied, before taking Shyla's hand and dried her clothes with a wave of her hand like she had promised earlier

"thanks" Shyla laughed

"shall we?" Derpina smiled at her friend, "or do you want to rest for a bit?"

"you find Korra" Shyla replied, "I'll rest. She's inside, my seismic sense can feel her"

"I'll wait for a few minutes I'm not leaving you alone, especially with you being pregnant"

"are you sure?"

"yes. Very" Derpina replied firmly

"thanks" Shyla smiled, next minute she found herself on the sand sitting next to Derpina who had pulled her down, "thanks, you're warm" she observed

"of course I am!" Derpina laughed before she shyly smiled and pulled Shyla closer, in response Shyla blushed and resisted the urge to hide her face. "What's wrong Shy?" Derpina asked, concerned

"nothing. Really nothing" she replied

"hmm" Derpina hummed, sitting with her arms around her new friend, her only friend, "feeling better?"

Shyla shuddered, feeling warmer by the second, "much" she agreed

Derpina hugged her friend for a little longer before she got ready to stand, "shall we?" she gestured at the air temple

"okay" Shyla smiled. After helping Shyla to her feet, Derpina walked towards the edge of the beach, towards the air temple, while Shyla followed closely behind Derpina.

*

When they neared the edge of the beach, Derpina looked at her friend and smiled, "I was given my name, Flame, by the white spirit Raava"

"you knew Raava?" Shyla inquired, again awestruck

"well she was the spirit that merged with Wan. I was there, remember? She was the one that chose me for this"

"wow…" Shyla continued to stare at her with a look of awe

"told you things would come back as I needed them" Derpina grinned

"how are you still a young girl?" Shyla inquired

"what you mean?" Derpina replied, confused

"you're young but not"

"oh, I'm still a child really, I act like a kid a lot, but I'm twenty, or ten thousand and twenty" she laughed

"I know. How?"

"what do you mean?"

"Never mind"

Derpina looked at her friend and smiled, "c'mon tell me. Most people who are twenty don't mess around like I do. Play pranks on people and childish stuff, that sorta stuff"

"it's a new thing…" Shyla agreed

"what?"

"people I have met aren't like that"

"exactly" they approached the main staircase up to the door of the temple, "I'm just a big kid!" Derpina smiled and laughed happily

"cool." Shyla said, slightly nervously, "okay, ready?" Derpina nodded and they walked up the stairs together, Shyla knocked on the elaborate door to the temple with a booming sound and Derpina smiled at her, providing reassurance

An older, bald man in red robes opens the door, "Shyla…"

"hi" Derpina said brightly, stepping forward

"this is Derpina, she needs to talk to Korra, Derpina, this is Tenzin"

The older man nods, "are you her girlfriend? Like her mother and her partner?"

"who's girlfriend?" Derpina questioned

"Shyla's…"

"DAD! NO!" Shyla exclaimed, embarrassed, she pushed past her father angrily and walked inside the temple

"no. I am not" Derpina said firmly, "I am Flame, Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Cycle"

Tenzin gasped at this declaration "Flame…?"

"you know me?"

"my father spoke of you, so has Korra"

"oh otay" Derpina smiled, relieved that that little… misunderstanding had been put behind them, "I was summoned here and I need to speak to Korra" Derpina smiled and bowed her head slightly

"she's in the garden working on her airbending" Tenzin looked over and smiled

"shall we?" Derpina gestured in the direction Tenzin was walking

"don't mind if I do" Shyla replied and smiled, walking forward after her father

Derpina gave chase and when she caught up, she asked "your father, Aang, was he an Avatar too?"

"Aang was my grandfather" Shyla explained

"ahh sorry, getting used to things and people." Derpina blushed and apologised quickly, "was he an Avatar too?"

"yes, before Korra," she explained as she walked out into the garden

"the Avatar cycle I'm guessing?" Derpina asked, and received a nod from Shyla. Derpina held out her hand for Tenzin who shook it, still amazed that Flame had returned, "nice to meet you master Tenzin," before turning back to the field where the dark-skinned Avatar was practicing her airbending

"still not even a measly puff of air!!" the Avatar yelled angrily, before blasting a picture of Lin Beifong with fire

"she's focused" Tenzin muttered but rolled his eyes at yet another picture going up in smoke, although the events since Korra had arrived had eased up her and the Chief's friendship, the former still found the Chief slightly annoying, although she was quickly warming up to her after she'd fought alongside her

"I can see that, I'll wait" Derpina replied quietly, who had not seen who the picture had been of, if she had she may have run over there and thrown the Avatar away from the burning picture.

*

She sat down quietly and Tenzin came and joined him. They sat in silence, meditating, for several hours, until Tenzin was visibly frustrated with waiting, "calm your mind Tenzin" Derpina muttered

"I'm just waiting," he replied, fidgeting

"otay," Derpina growled, annoyed by the fidgeting, before she returned to her meditation, a faint blue glow appeared in one hand, which, unnoticed by Derpina, Tenzin watched intently, his eyes widening.

Tenzin nervously watched for danger until Korra noticed Tenzin and a stranger were waiting, once Korra looked over and saw Derpina, the blue glow faded. "hey!" Korra called before walking over with a slight swagger, Derpina was roused from her meditation and stood in front of the Avatar, who looked her over once or twice, "I know you…" the Avatar muttered, perturbed

"that's probably true" Derpina stated, grinning slightly, "I am Flame, Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Cycle"

Korra looked her over again, disbelief etched into her face, "how can that be?"

"I was summoned"

Korra looked more sceptical, "how do I believe that?" she demanded

"I can prove that I am the Grandmaster!" Flame declared, irritated

"prove it!" Derpina took a few steps back and breathed in deeply, her wings appeared in a flash. "that's impossible…! It can't be you!"

Derpina raised both her hands and blue fire appeared in them, swirled around, then became white, "I AM Flame, Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Cycle!"

"the Cycle Guardian… you are alive"

"I was said to be dead?"

"vanished, believed to be dead"

"well I was in the core of a star for, well, I don't really know how long, at least ten thousand years"

"yes, ten thousand years" Korra wondered aloud

Derpina smiled at Shyla and Korra, "Avatar Korra, we ought to speak to Wan"

"I can try" Korra muttered uncertainly, gesturing for Derpina to sit opposite her, Derpina did so and placed her hand on Korra's forehead, giving her the power she needed to summon Wan.

*

"Korra? Flame?" Wan inquired, walking forward

"hi Wan, yea, it's me" Derpina smiled at her old friend, "long time no see" she laughed

"how did you get here? What do you want?" he asked, surprised

"I was summoned, I was told I would need to restore the connection to the cycle if it was ever broken so, I'm guessing that's why I was summoned"

"there's no break in the cycle"

"seemingly not…"

"you were summoned for another reason, Flame"

"or for the future"

"what do you mean?"

"maybe something is going to happen, I don't know"

While Korra and Derpina were conversing with Wan, Shyla walked up behind her father after getting a drink and watched Korra and Derpina, who were talking to a boy of about nineteen, "I should be used to this by now!" Shyla exclaimed, smiling and hiding her surprise well

"they're talking to Wan, Shyla" Tenzin explained

"I know" Shyla replied, staring at Derpina but rolling her eyes at Tenzin's comment

"the cycle has never been broken, Grandmaster Flame, therefore it is unclear as what can be done should it become broken" Wan explained to a still worried Derpina.

Shyla began to get fed up of waiting for her friend to finish conversing with Wan, then as she watched him fade away, Korra's eyes start to glow and a voice emanated from within Korra, "Flame, you will know what must be done when the time is right," her eyes stopped glowing and she passed out while Derpina slowly came out of meditation

"Korra!" Tenzin ran forward to catch her

"What happened?!" Shyla exclaimed

"I'm guessing that was Raava" Derpina replied

"what did she say?" Shyla asked, much to the surprise of everyone there

"didn't you hear?" Tenzin asked, surprised

"I don't understand it" Shyla muttered

"I don't either" Tenzin admitted while Derpina shrugged


	4. Children

"well what now? Shyla questioned both Derpina and Tenzin

Derpina shrugged, "I got nothin'" she muttered, as confused as before. "hmm" she muttered, sniffing the air, she looked around and saw smoke rising in the distance, from the city

"oh no!" Shyla exclaimed, panicked. "what is that?"

Derpina sniffed the air again, "something is seriously wrong!" she exclaimed before looking at Shyla

"let's go then!" Shyla exclaimed, worried about the city

Derpina held her hands out, "probably better to fly, unless anyone else has an option?"

"we could take a flying bison" Tenzin suggested

"yes, let's do that" Derpina agreed before running towards Oogi, "Tenzin? Korra? you guys coming along?!" she called. They nodded and ran towards Oogi too. Derpina clambered up the bison's side, causing it to grunt and shake, enjoying the warmth emanating from the Grandmaster

"careful" Shyla warned, concerned for Derpina

"careful, sweetie" Tenzin echoed, talking to Shyla, once she had clambered aboard, Derpina shifted over for her to sit down. "I don't want you fighting, Shyla" Tenzin muttered, bracing himself for complaints or even earthbending tantrums

When Shyla clenched her fist, Derpina intervened, "I will keep her safe, Tenzin, I promise"

"I don't need to be babysat!" Shyla protested, crossing her arms in annoyance

"guys stop bickering please" Korra groaned

Derpina nodded, "we are nearly there" she agreed, Shyla grumbled to herself then sat quietly, watching Tenzin in annoyance. "sorry Shy," Derpina whispered apologetically, smiling at her.

"whatever." Shyla muttered, brushing her off, Derpina looked a little upset that her friend had been short with her. "what Derpina?" Shyla asked

"I upset you, I'm sorry" Derpina replied earnestly.

The bison neared the scene of the chaos, and Tenzin jumped off before the bison had even landed, "it's okay" Shyla sighed before looking around, "you'd better get down there..." she suggested

"it's not otay" Derpina countered, "but let's go!" she jumped off before looking back at Shyla still on the bison

"I can't remember?" she said sadly, looking down at her friend

"sorry" Derpina muttered quietly, before she reached up and touched Shyla's hand briefly before running over to Tenzin, "what's going on Tenzin?" she asked before looking around at the obvious chaos being caused by a few benders, two firebenders and an earthbender, who were launching fire and earth at random at anybody in range, having been angered by nearby citizens who had failed to provide them with their protection money on time.

Meanwhile, on the back of the bison, Shyla clutched at her tummy thinking _this is it, I'm gonna do it_.

"Tenzin?" Derpina repeated, irritated at being blanked

"Yes?" he replied

"what's going on?" she asked, dodging a wayward lump of earth with ease

"Triads" Tenzin replied shortly, "the police are here though, get back to Shy, you promised"

"of course," Derpina muttered, and bowed slightly before bouncing an incredible height and landing softly on the bison next to Shyla

"hey!" Shyla exclaimed, rubbing her tummy before crossing her arms

"hey" Derpina replied, before smiling, "how's the baby?" she asked calmly

"kicking… I think" Shyla laughed nervously

Derpina smiled wider and placed her hand on Shyla's tummy, "aww!" she blushed and smiled even wider. Shyla appeared to be deep in thought for a few seconds before she leant forward and kissed Derpina's cheek before she withdrew quickly, gasped in surprise and apologised profusely while Derpina giggled and blushed a deep red, a few seconds later she decided to continue and put her hand on Derpina's cheek. Stroking it gently, Derpina smiled again and whispered "you are so beautiful, Shy"

"I am a sick mess" Shyla replied, laughing, she sat up quickly only to lean back again, "OW!" she exclaimed

"no, you are beautiful!" Derpina exclaimed before she put her hands on Shyla's tummy to reduce the amount of pain she was in. Derpina kissed her quickly to take her mind off the pain while her fiery healing hands did the rest

Shyla just seemed to relax a little, she had wrapped her arms around the person she'd come to call 'firebending chick' in her mind, when a sudden jolt of pain caused her to throw herself away from Derpina in surprise. "oh no…"

"Shyla, what's wrong?!" Derpina shuffled forward quickly

"my water just broke I think!" she grimaced in pain, "that hurts! OW!!" she squeaked before gripping Derpina's hand tightly, which caused her to grimace in pain

Derpina held her close to her chest for a few precious seconds before yelling at Tenzin, who was fighting the triads with his airbending, "Tenzin? I'm taking Shy back to Air Temple Island!"

"Why?! Is she alright?!" Tenzin yelped, panicked

"Yea, she's alright" Derpina replied calmly, "just a small issue…" she paused for a second to hold Shyla's hand, "I'll be alright handling it on my own!"

"Alright, take her" Tenzin nodded while Shyla panted from the pain.

*

The bison quickly flew back to Air Temple Island, "we're here" Derpina declared, still calm, before she picked Shyla up and ran back inside with her, past a confused Pema and several acolytes, all of whom jumped out of the way of Derpina before they got knocked into the walls. "you otay, Shy?" Derpina asked kindly

"lay me down" Shyla replied, groaning and grimacing. Derpina quickly led her down on the bed and sat next to her, even though she was worried about her, she still tried to be calm, at least on the exterior. "it's too early!" Shyla whimpered

"it's gonna be otay" Derpina whispered soothingly, she wrapped her arms around Shyla before she lifted her head gently onto her lap, "comfortable?" Derpina whispered

"can you stop this?" Shyla's gasping breaths normalised and she breathed softly for the first time since the onset of labour, "reverse it? It's too early!"

"I… I wouldn't know how to" Derpina sighed, the air acolytes that Derpina nearly ploughed into the walls rushed in to see what was going on and to help if they could. "Shyla is in labour" Derpina explained before turning back to Shyla, "remember I said it was a very healthy baby?"

"I know, please stay!" Shyla exclaimed loudly trying to get up, only to be pushed back into bed by the acolytes

"uhh there's something I should say to warn you"

"what?!" Shyla yelled

"They're very healthy babies!" Derpina whispered quietly, emphasising the they're and babies

"TWINS!?" Shyla yelled louder, "shit!" she exclaimed, as she panted and pushed, "hold my hand" she whispered softly

Derpina grabbed her hand and held it firmly before replying, "no, not exactly. Four."

"WHAT!?" Shyla exclaimed louder than ever, completely caught by surprise, "how in the name of the spirits?!" she managed to get out before panting and pushing again. Derpina grabbed Shyla's hand in an attempt to comfort her, but she screamed throughout the pushing, prompting Derpina to wrap her arms around Shyla and use her healing abilities to reduce the pain. Shyla looked at Derpina weakly, "I can't… hold" she muttered weakly

"stay with me Shy!" Derpina encouraged

"a few more pushes!" one of the acolytes encouraged. Shyla pushed a few more times, no longer screaming due to the healing touch of Derpina. A few minutes later, two of the babies were in the acolytes' arms and crying for the first time

"halfway there, Shyla" Derpina smiled encouragingly and stroked her cheek calmingly, she used her other hand to gently touch each baby's forehead in turn, checking their health

"it hurts!" Shyla yelled, while she panted and pushed with all her might. She screamed again when Derpina removed her hand to check the babies' health

"they're otay, Shy" Derpina whispered soothingly, "they're otay." Derpina wrapped her other arm around Shyla and resumed healing almost immediately while the acolytes holding the babies smiled and shook their heads in wonder

"are they here?" Shyla asked weakly

"they're all out Shy, two boys two girls"

Shyla closed her eyes, trying to relax, "good…" she panted, "good." Derpina kissed her cheek while her eyes were closed, which caused her to stir, "can you go get my parents?"

"your mothers and your father?"

"yes. Please?" Shyla had just whispered that weakly to Derpina when Tenzin walked in and stopped when he saw Derpina sitting next to Shyla, Derpina held two of the babies and one of the acolytes held the other two, while Derpina and Shyla looked dreamily into each other's eyes. "hi…" Shyla said, a near whisper due to her weakened state. She turned her head slightly to look up at him weakly

"hi, Shy" Tenzin smiled before looking at Derpina in amazement, "a small… problem?" he said incredulously

"yea…" Derpina replied

"a lot more than I expected" Shyla added

"never looked after babies before" Derpina announced, smiling widely

Shyla looked at Derpina, who grinned back happily, "Derpina…" Shyla put her hand on Derpina's cheek

"yes, Shy?" Derpina inquired

"thank you"

"for what, Shy?" Derpina asked, surprised

"for being here for me" she stopped momentarily, "will you be around?"

"always. I promise" Derpina affirmed before being interrupted by Tenzin

"I… uh… I'll take a bison and get your mothers, Shy." He turned slightly to look Derpina direct in the eyes, "I'll leave my daughter and grandchildren under your care, Grandmaster Flame, is that okay?" Derpina nodded and Tenzin walked out

"bye, dad" Shyla whispered after him, "my strength is coming back… can I hold my children?" she asked Derpina

"of course," Derpina replied, before she handed Shyla the two babies she held, a boy and a girl before taking the two off of the acolyte, "can I hold them again soon though?" Derpina asked, smiling and laughing

"Grandmaster?" Tenzin poked his head around the door again, and after Derpina looked at him, he continued "I trust you with her safety. You're… a good caring person. Thank you." He smiled before he disappeared again

Shyla smiled, "of course Derpina, thank you." Derpina smiled back and jumped onto the bed to lie next to Shyla. "this is crazy… so fast" Shyla whispered with wonderment, whispering so to not disturb the now sleeping babies on her chest

"what's crazy and what's so fast?" Derpina whispered back

"all of this, and me, a mom. All in one day"

"you're so damn strong" Derpina whispered back admiringly

"I feel weak now" Shyla replied with a slight grin

Derpina moved closer to Shy on the bed and rolled one of the babies, the smallest boy, onto her chest before exclaiming "aww baby!" Derpina smiled again and gently held the baby boy close and protectively, while Shyla led beside her and held the other three. Derpina stroked Shyla's cheek before whispering in her ear, "say your unsaid secret, Shy"

"what do you mean?" Shyla whispered, caught by surprise

"just tell me your secret, please?"

"I love you, Derpina"

"I love you too Shy!" Derpina exclaimed before she blushed through a massive smile

"you do?"

"yes, I truly do Shy, why did I kiss you?" Shyla stroked Derpina's cheek in response then was forced to look down at the babies as one of the girls started crying

*

Derpina kissed Shyla's forehead as someone walked into the room, the baby girl knew something was wrong and it was this person's presence that made her cry, not out of hunger, or sadness, or because of a wet diaper, but out of fear. "hello?" Shyla called out, lifting her head enough to see who it was

"hello, Shy." The man growled back menacingly, Shyla put a protective arm over her babies when she saw who it was, her abusive boyfriend

"don't let him come in here" Derpina snarled, "I don't like the look of him or the feel of his emotions." Derpina stood up quickly, swinging herself onto her feet while laying the baby down on Shyla in the same move. "stay back!" Derpina growled

"Derpina! No! he'll hurt you!" Shyla squeaked

"me?" Derpina laughed slightly, "he'll be screaming in fear in a minute" Derpina smirked, stepping forwards, he stepped forwards towards Shyla and Derpina conjured small fireballs in both of her hands. "I said…" Derpina growled, more irritated, "stay back!"

"you think a little fire will scare me?" he scoffed and laughed, stepping forward to grab Shyla's hair, "have you behaved, little bitch?" he growled ominously and Shyla looked down in submission out of fear. "good, you're learning you can't win!"

A growl of rage emanated from Derpina, a large blue fireball appeared out of nowhere and at Derpina's nonverbal command, she merely blinked, the fireball flew forwards at incredible speed and struck the man in the chest, it exploded and threw him through the shut window, shattering it. "I said… STAY THE FUCK BACK!!!" Derpina roared in rage over the man's pitiful squeak of surprise

Shyla attempted to stand but fell onto the floor, still weak from childbirth, "Derpina, the children" she pleaded with Derpina

"I'll take them to a safe place" Derpina said soothingly, "but I will not leave you." Derpina honoured her word by taking the children to the highest point in the building before she returned to Shyla's side. She took up a defensive stance between Shyla and the door, her anger causing a slight shimmering effect around her body. Seconds later the shimmering caught fire, and became multiple balls of red and blue fire which circled around Derpina's body slowly

"Derpina… be careful" Shyla pleaded

"he didn't see me land on my head, remember?" Derpina smiled and laughed, before her smile disappeared into a snarl of rage as she looked at the door, "I'll do anything to protect you" Derpina promised

"thank you" Shyla nodded

"I can feel your presence!" Derpina growled, "show yourself… or die"

Suddenly the entire building started to shake, "that's him! He's an earthbender!" Shyla exclaimed, terrified

"You have no balls!!" Derpina mocked the man, her wings appearing, ready to strike or fly, "puny cowardly arsehole!" she crowed in delight at the man's cowardice, the fireballs circling her faster, "you're clearly weak." The man, in response to Derpina's taunts caused the ground and house to shake more violently, "FACE ME LIKE A MAN YOU COWARD!" Derpina roared, quickly getting tired of the man's lack of bravery, "YOU HAVE NO HONOUR!"

"why? When it's easier to kill you like this?"

Derpina laughed coldly "this just shows how weak you are"

"not weak, efficient!" he replied, clearly getting more annoyed

"we need to go!" Shyla screamed at Derpina

"gaaaaaaahhhhh!" Derpina roared, raising both her hands into the air, causing a massive rumble in the air above Republic City, and when she lowered them again, a massive bolt of lightning shot out of the sky, descending quickly at the man who was still out of sight at the base of the building. The bolt of lightning struck him and threw him off of the island, screaming in pain as tens of hundreds of thousands of volts coursed through his body. Derpina laughed coldly again when she heard his screams, "see?" she laughed "weak." She taunted, loud enough for the man to hear him, even as he surfaced, screaming, in the bay surrounding Air Temple Island.

"let him drown" Shyla growled coldly

"I won't harm him again unless he tries again" Derpina replied, having hardly broken a sweat when she conjured the massive bolt of lightning, "but that does not mean I have to help him"

"don't" Shyla growled

Derpina returned to Shyla's side, lifted her back onto the bed and rubbed her head where he had grabbed her, "I love you Shy"

*

Meanwhile, in Republic City, Korra, who was still working with the police to ensure everyone was safe, saw the massive lightning bolt strike down on Air Temple Island, "Flame… She's angry as hell!"

"who?" the officer she was speaking to replied

"I have to go" Korra said hurriedly and rushed off

*

Back on Air Temple Island, several acolytes ran in and Shyla blurted out, "my ex-boyfriend, he came for me" before she burst into tears and hugged into Derpina, who dismissed the acolytes with a single look of menace

"you are safe, Shy," Derpina said calmingly, sitting Shyla down in her lap, and resting the children in Shyla's lap, "so, do you really love me, as in in love with me?"

"I kissed you, didn't I?"

Derpina smiled at this, before starting and quickly raising her hands, "I can feel you are there you bastard, tell me why you keep coming back!"

"she's mine and the kids are mine." Shyla looked around in shock and fear, "she betrayed me, she must die!"

Derpina snarled angrily, "you just don't get it, do you? You won't ever get past me and you have no idea what you are messing with!" she conjured up two sizeable white fireballs and stood, Shyla quickly hid the quadruplets in the basket attached to the zip wire that the acolytes had just installed and pushed the basket away down the zip wire before she returned to Derpina's side, "I am Flame. This time, do you want to die a coward, or a man?"

"I won't die, she will. But I won't get the glory apparently" the man clambered down off of the windowsill and back down to the ground outside the building where he could still see an angry looking young woman standing fearlessly in the centre of the room and his ex-girlfriend hiding timidly behind this other woman

Derpina smiled coldly at the man, which caused him to be inexplicably fearful for his life. He angrily pushed the feelings of fear out of his mind and growled in annoyance at the stranger for stealing his easy kill. To his surprise, the woman in front of him made no effort to strike him as she had done before but instead assumed a meditative posture with her hands for a few seconds. The man debated whether he should attack him while she was seemingly meditating, but, before he could make a move and even though it was unseen to him, the woman's eyes changed, giving her face more of a mysterious appearance and enormous wings erupted from her back. Derpina laughed at the man's now white face because of the appearance of the massive wings, "I am Flame!! Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Cycle!!" she declared in a booming voice, which, although the most authorative voice the man had ever heard, still had a shred of the mysterious quality to it. "you will be destroyed, you weak coward!" to the man's surprise and fear, golden fireballs appeared in both her hands, "bring it on!"

"no. no. I won't give you your honour. I will let you fail" the man growled forcefully, still trying to suppress the feelings of fear he was experiencing.

"don't make me zap you again" Derpina taunted

"do it!" the man yelled, only to be thrown back and into a nearby wall by another massive bolt of lightning, this time directly from Derpina's hand, which caused him to growl in pain

"I know what will piss you off" Derpina growled coldly, "I should have thought of it before!" she exclaimed, before she jumped out of the window, flew down to the ground on her massive wings and landed softly on the ground a few metres away from Shyla's ex-boyfriend. The man failed, no matter how hard he tried to cover his amazement and awe at the young woman who now stood before him, with the massive wings with fire burning on the edges without hurting her, the golden fireballs in her hands and her face, and eyes, which gave her the mysterious appearance of a cat enough to impress anyone, even the low life that was now lying in front of Derpina. His awe turned to anger when he saw Shyla watching from the upstairs window, his momentary display of anger only resulted in him getting another massive lightning bolt coursing through his body, "not nice getting a huge lightning bolt in the back, is it?" Derpina smiled at the man, who coughed and lost his life. Derpina smiled wider and turned to face the building, which had only lost a few roof tiles due to the earthbender's attack on the house. "SHY!" she yelled, "I'm coming back up to you!" Derpina looked over her shoulder one last time at the smouldering remains of Shyla's ex, before she leapt up and landed in the window. Derpina jumped down from the windowsill and ran to Shyla who held her desperately, "it's over Shy, it's over" Derpina muttered, trying to calm her down.

"I was scared you had died" Shyla whispered, earning a raised eyebrow from Derpina

"how?" Derpina replied incredulously, "he was bug splat. Like I warned him he would be"

"thank you!"

As Derpina led Shyla away from the window, and the scorched remains of her ex, she whispered "everything is otay now, Shyla." a few seconds after they had moved away from the window, Korra arrived back on the island, immediately noticing the damage, the craters in the ground from Derpina's lightening attacks, the damage to one of the temple towers as a result of the earthbender's attack, the scorch marks on the grass from more lightning and the hole in the wall through which she could see the corpse. "I promise, you and the babies are safe" Derpina continued

"all of them?"

"all four babies and you are safe, Shy" Derpina confirmed, nodding, while Korra was wandering around the island in amazement at the damage her protector could cause in such a short period of time, "hmm" Derpina hummed before she grabbed Shyla and held her close because she was shaking due to the traumatic experience that she had just gone through. Derpina kissed her cheek reassuringly and she fake smiled up at Derpina, who, although she realised it was a fake smile, simply held Shyla close

"he won't come back?" Shyla inquired

"he will not," Shyla burst into tears at this and held her children closer, having just been handed them by two of the acolytes, Derpina continued to hug Shyla, but rested her hands on the sleeping babies' hands


	5. The Lake

After five minutes of sitting there, Shyla's mothers, Lin and Monika came running up. Derpina looked up, having been watching the babies sleep and smiled at them, they smiled back and held Shyla from behind as she cried. Shyla sniffled, trying to get her emotions under control when her father walked in through the door and stopped, amazed to see his daughter crying out of control in the newcomer's arms. "dad, don't look at me!" Shyla exclaimed

"it's otay, Shy, its otay" Derpina reassured her, holding her tighter.

"I'm okay, I'm alright" Shyla tried to whisper, more to herself than to anyone else

"no, you're not Shy." Derpina replied calmly, holding the girl in her arms tighter, "you're not, he just tried to kill us"

"all that matters to me is my family" Shyla said calmly, "that means you"

"me?" Derpina gasped, "how come!?" she exclaimed when Shyla nodded at her

"you were there for me. You always have been!" Shyla explained

"well since I arrived" Derpina smiled, a small tear of happiness having appeared in her eye

"aww don't" Shyla blushed, Derpina started to stroke her cheek gently, "I love you"

Tenzin stared at Shyla, incensed, and was about to say something, when both Lin and Monika put their hands on his shoulders, "Shy…" Lin began

"what is it mom?" Shy replied, bracing herself for bad news

"if that is what makes you happy, then you have my support," she pointed at Derpina, "if she protects you, and loves you and cares for you, then you both have my support"

"I know she will, and I'll do the same"

"count me in" Monika added

"thank you, guys!" Shyla exclaimed happily

At a death stare from Lin and Monika, Tenzin nodded, "can we go?" Shyla asked Derpina

"go where?" Derpina replied, confused

"back inside"

"we are inside?" Derpina whispered

"oh, my vision must be messed up" she wipes her eyes again. Derpina signalled Tenzin, Lin and Monika to take the babies. Shyla sobbed into Derpina's shoulder again just as Korra walked through the door and Lin and Monika held the four sleeping babies. "I feel so wimpy" Shyla acknowledged

"what's going on?" Korra asked, surprised

"not now Korra" Derpina replied kindly before she held Shyla tighter and kissed her lips

Shyla kissed Derpina back, beginning to relax, "I love you" she whispered, closing her eyes and enjoying the close contact

"I love you too Shy!" Shyla giggled while Lin, Monika and Tenzin groaned

"we can move somewhere else if you want?" Derpina said, muffled by the kissing

"please!" Lin sighed in relief to a giggle from Shyla, Derpina grinned, picked Shyla up, jumped out of the window, her wings appearing. While Shyla held on to Derpina tight, she flapped her wings once and they shot off into the endless blue sky

*

"woooooooo!!!" Shyla screamed happily, stretching her arm out, she felt the wind blow it back

"not even Avatar Aang could fly that high!" Lin said, awestruck, staring up after Derpina and Shyla had vanished into the sky in seconds

"she has incredible height" Tenzin shook his head

"she is a Grandmaster!" Korra reminded them, to which Tenzin smiled, "there is rumoured to be three others, one for each element, but the firebending Grandmaster was said to be the first and most powerful, the one chosen by Raava herself, the one given the power to at least match the Avatar but never defeat them"

"wow" Tenzin murmured, wondering what the Grandmaster's upper limit was

"the failsafe in case something happened"

"let's hope it doesn't" Lin said hurriedly

"why else would she be here?" Tenzin inquired

"I don't know!" Korra admitted

Derpina and Shyla were flying higher than anyone had ever flow before, enjoying the clear blue sky, uninterrupted by clouds since they were well above them, "This is AWESOME!" Shyla cried out, only to smile wider when Derpina kissed her lips again. "I love you" Shyla reiterated, momentarily distracted from the sky by the kiss, Derpina attempted to snuggle her closer but when she did so they went off balance, "careful!" Shyla yelped, which only encouraged Derpina to laugh and allow them to fall for a while, before she flapped her powerful wings again, halting their descent

"I feel young again!" Shyla laughed

"you are young, Shy" Derpina replied, "how old are you again?"

"twenty" she replied

"same as me" Derpina smiled, then laughed and added "biologically anyway," Shyla smiled again, amused, and giggled again when Derpina kissed her nose

*

Shyla and Derpina landed in an area of outstanding natural beauty, with a lake of pure spring mineral water. The water glinted a range of colours in the sunlight from an opening in the rocky surround far above them, from light blue in the shallowest areas to a much darker blue in the depths of the lake. Not only the areas in the sunlight felt warm, the heat from the water was enough to warm the entire area. "woah… Derpina, this is beautiful" Shyla gasped, as she inspected the water and a few of the beautifully smooth rocks around the lake, as well as the more jagged ones further up the cliffs

"a secret I kept to myself. We're at the highest point in the tallest volcano, not even the airbenders or Air Nomads could get to it, I also told no Avatar about its existence and they clearly never found it as everything is as it was, so it's my secret, wait, it's our secret"

"it's amazing!" Shyla smiled, putting her hands in the warm water of the stream that fed the lake

"consider it a gift" Derpina smiled, much to the amazement of Shyla

"wanna lay in the grass?" Shyla asked

"I prefer to lay in the water" Derpina said back, completely relaxed, "shall we?" she inquired, brushing Shyla's lips with her own. After they had both jumped in, Derpina hugged Shyla, "no chance of us being disturbed"

"sounds good" Shyla whispered back, giggling

"I don't think Korra knows how to speak to me with her mind yet" Derpina said, giving Shyla a little more insight into her mysterious partner, Derpina calmly wrapped her arms and legs around Shyla without a hint of dominance or superiority, "my beautiful Shy"

"and you are my Derpina" Shyla replied, continuously reaching a new level of relaxation by the minute, while led on Derpina, "I hope the kids are okay with mom and dad" Shyla added

"they'll be fine" Derpina said reassuringly, she concentrated for a few seconds, "yea, they're perfectly healthy and safe" she confirmed

"you can see that?" Shyla whispered, amazed and gently touched Derpina's cheek

"yes, I can sense body heat, and the unique differences"

"unique differences?"

"everyone's body heat is different" Derpina explained, "too small for even the best master firebender to notice, and if they're a bender, I can also tell on that" Derpina elaborated the extent of her abilities, before adding, "that and I can sense their minds"

"wow" Shyla gasped

Derpina smiled, "I can feel everything about you, from both of my abilities. You're an earthbender, you will become a master metalbender, like or even exceeding your grandmother, and you will probably be powerful enough to bend platinum"

"not a chance in hell" Shyla scoffed sceptically

"trust me"

"that won't happen"

"you don't know that" Derpina reminded her, "you lot have to bend it, I just melt it" Derpina said, laughing

"still useful"

"yea true" Derpina laughed, "I can help with your bending if you want"

"how?!" Shyla exclaimed, intrigued

"shall we go a few rounds?" Derpina smiled, and her hands went blue, "to see just how good you really are"

"like spar?"

"using bending, yes"

"I don't wanna hurt you though"

"come on!" Derpina encouraged, "defend yourself!" she shot a small jet of fire at her opponent, and smiled when Shyla blocked the attack with a small rock wall. "good, nice reflex" she smiled and encouraged her partner with a nod, "can you metalbend?"

"sort of" Shyla replied, uncertain of herself

"I've got a new idea that might give you an advantage over everyone" Derpina said animatedly

"okay, tell me!" Shyla said, enthusuastic

"there's this unusual metal I discovered recently, called mercury, wanna see it?"

"yes, please show me," Derpina pulled out a jar with a metallic substance in it, "it's in a jar"

Derpina turned the jar of metal on its side then all the way over, "it's a liquid!" Shyla exclaimed

"yes, it is, but it's not pure"

"wow" Shyla muttered to herself

"so… shall we try?" Derpina asked encouragingly

"okay…" Shyla nodded uncertainly

"a little warning, it's a bit toxic this stuff" when Shyla nodded her understanding, Derpina opened the jar and put it down. Shyla first attempted to move the liquid with forceful movements that didn't cause the metal to react in any way, "easy" Derpina said, although her voice was full of encouragement, "slow and easy," she smiled at Shyla, "flowing movements"

"almost like waterbending, except with toxic metal" Shyla laughed, before she attempted to move it slowly

"exactly!" Derpina exclaimed, "it'll certainly surprise your opponents, just like my lavabending!" Derpina moved her hands to hold on to Shyla's arms, and slowly guided her through the movements

"I got it!" Shyla said with enthusiasm

"let's see then?" Derpina smiled and encouraged her student to metalbend by herself, unlike her previous instructor, who always went through the movements with her

"okay…" Shyla nodded then started to move the liquid metal

"you're the first ever liquid metalbender!" Derpina exclaimed, proud of her achievement

"this is amazing!" Shyla shouted in triumph, enthralled with her success and excited to learn more

"your grandmother, Toph, invented the original metalbending, and you invented liquid metalbending!"

"my mom is gonna be proud!" Shyla exclaimed, hoping she had finally done something worthy of her mother's recognition

"let's practice a bit of a fight with this!" Derpina smiled encouragingly, summoning a small fireball, and launching it at her opponent. Shyla slung the liquid, both testing it and trying to extinguish the fireball. "yuck!" Derpina exclaimed a few seconds later, the metal had indeed put the fireball out, but had continued and covered Derpina's hands with metal

"are you okay?!" Shyla shouted, panicked

"yea" Derpina smiled, "can you get this stuff off of me?" Derpina asked, Shyla promptly did so and Derpina grinned, "thank you, I would've used fire but I haven't got much of it"

"what?"

"I haven't got much liquid metal"

"okay"

Derpina then threw a series of eight small but fast fireballs at Shyla, who attempted to put them all out, and nearly succeeded, "good!" Derpina yelled, putting out the final fireball, the only one Shyla had missed, just before it made contact with her

"thanks, damn" Shyla growled, irritated that she wasn't perfect

"you can't be perfect straight away" Derpina reminded her

"I feel like I have to" Shyla replied sadly

"you don't." Derpina exclaimed with certainty, "you know how long it took your grandmother to break out of that metal cell the first time she realised?"

"a few hours" Shyla whispered

"yea, and it took her months to properly master metalbending, you're well on your way"

"thank you"

Derpina threw a large and powerful fireball at Shyla, who dodged it, "you're supposed to block it" Derpina reminded her

"sorry panicked" Shyla whispered

"shall we try again?" Derpina asked

"do it!" Derpina threw a similarly sized fireball at Shyla again, who put an earth wall up this time

"mmm that's one way I guess" Derpina observed

"it's all I got" Shyla said timidly, expecting Derpina to yell at her and randomly throw fireballs like her mother used to throw rocks and metal at her when she was unable to do a specific move while she was learning to earthbend and metalbend

"try it with your metalbending" Derpina reminded her, throwing another fireball, which Shyla tried to block with the metal but wasn't fast enough, and had to dodge the fireball. Derpina conjured a small fireball, "block this one" Derpina said kindly, before throwing it. Shyla successfully blocked the small fireball. "good!" Derpina smiled and conjured another fireball, this time slightly bigger, throwing it with precision, smiling when Shyla also successfully blocked that fireball with the metal. "good!" Derpina exclaimed, and she gradually increased the size of each fireball she threw at Shyla incrementally, until, after ten minutes, she spoke up, "you know those last five Shy?"

"yes?"

"they were significantly larger than the one you were struggling to block!"

"really?" Shyla whispered disbelievingly

"yea"

"you sneak" Shyla grunted

"what babe?" Derpina inquired, making Shyla grin and laugh, as it was the first time Derpina had used such a term. "Shy, I wasn't being a sneak, I just didn't see any other way to get you to successfully block them all"

"sorry"

"Shy!" Derpina exclaimed, "no need to be sorry! You did it! That last one was about twice as powerful as the average firebending master's fireballs!" this made Shyla smile, "come on Shy," Derpina whispered, poking her hand, "you must see that that's some achievement!"

"it is I know" Shyla muttered reluctantly

"I am very proud of you Shy!" Derpina said, grinning widely. Shyla returned the grin and hugged her tutor tight. "my amazing Shy!" Derpina whispered

"my wonderful Derpina!" she whispered back, smiling as she was picked up and kissed, she leant into the kiss and kissed Derpina back

"I love you Shy"

"I love you Derpina!" Shy exclaimed and squeaked when Derpina tightened her grip on Shyla in order to be able to pick her up. Shyla closes her eyes, only to open them, surprised, when Derpina jumped back into the warm lake water with Shyla in her arms. Derpina waded out further so they were up to their shoulders in water before she kissed Shyla, who giggled and kissed back.

"you comfortable babe?" Derpina asked, having snuggled closer to Shyla, Shyla replied with a smile and settled in to her intimate embrace with the girl she loved. Derpina wriggled out a little bit, only to remove her and Shyla's tops in order to get even more intimate with her, "happy?"

"beyond happy" Shyla smiled

"my clothes are soaked, Shy!" Derpina laughed

"what do you want me to do? You're a firebender!" Shyla exclaimed, also laughing and she began rubbing Derpina's tummy


	6. Bloodbenders

"something's up!" Derpina exclaimed, sitting up with a jolt, had she not been holding on to Shyla as tightly as she had been, Shyla would've been chucked into the deep part of the lake. "a type of bending I'm not familiar with" Derpina muttered, looking around

"what is it?" Shyla replied, sitting up, concerned

"I can't tell, its waterbending I know that much"

"oh no…" Shyla cried, scared, "Derpina we have to go!" she exclaimed, turning to Derpina only to see her leap out of the water, her wings erupting mid-jump while steam came off of her body. "Derpina! Careful!" Shyla screamed at her back, quickly clambering out of the lake and over the rocky wall that held the water in the lake

"it's under control! I was boiling the water off of me!" Derpina exclaimed, throwing Shyla her top, "let's go?"

"fast"

Derpina grabbed Shyla's waist and massive jets of fire shoot out of her feet, propelling her into the air, "what the hell is going on!?" Derpina yelled over the noise of the fire jets

"you said it was a different kind of waterbending," Shyla yelled back., fear in her eyes, "Derpina it was bloodbending"

"I've never heard of that!" Derpina admitted

"it's self-explanatory, but they take control of you!"

"like to see them try" Derpina snarled, "sounds sinister"

"it's horrific!" Shyla agreed

"let me at 'em!"

"no Derpina. I won't let you"

"can you really stop me Shy?" Derpina asked earnestly, landing with a thud on the beach that they had swam to Air Temple Island from, turning the sand under her feet into glass. In the distance, there was a lot of commotion, shouting and screaming from a huge number of people

"oh no…" Shyla exclaimed and ran towards the noise

Derpina growled, her wings appearing, she flapped them and flew over Shyla, holding out her hand, "need a hand?" she asked, Shyla quickly grabbed it and they picked up height, flying over the buildings of Republic City, towards the noise

*

Shyla narrowed her eyes, trying to see what was going on and sees people running in every direction, screaming, but with a distinct lack of police presence. "oh fuck…" Shyla whispered quietly, "where are the police?"

"is that them?" Derpina replied, having pointed at twenty rigid people, standing on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Republic City

"get me closer so I can see!" Derpina nodded and with a jet of fire, shot higher so nobody would see their approach. She dropped Shyla silently on the tall building and landed on the building that was closest to the building that the people were on, her wings disappearing as to reduce her size

"what's going on!?" Shyla exclaimed, running towards the people, who, from their uniforms, were clearly officers, but not a single one moved or took any notice of Shyla as she ran up to them, "HELLO!" Shyla yelled at the top of her voice, "what's going on?!" one of the officers stepped forwards into nothingness, and Shyla caught Derpina leaping off of her building out of the corner of her eye. Derpina timed it perfectly and caught the officer seconds before she hit the ground, Derpina flicked her legs, conjuring more fire, and propelled herself back up onto the roof. "dude! Have you lost your mind!" Shyla shrieked at the male officer, and two of the officers turned to grab her

"you are under arrest!" one of the officers exclaimed

"WHAT!?" Shyla yelled, "what did I do?" she screamed, trying to pull away from him while the other struggled to put handcuffs on her

"you are under arrest" the officer repeated unhelpfully

"I DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION!!" Shyla roared in the officer's face, "Mom! Help!" Shyla cried at her mother, turning only to see Lin trying to put platinum handcuffs on Derpina. "HEY! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Shyla roared, panicked, "DERPINA!!"

"Get down Shyla!" Derpina called, then turned back to Lin who had succeeded in getting the cuffs on, "I'm so sorry Lin!" she sighed before a massive fire ring erupted from her hands, melting the cuffs into an unidentifiable mess and knocking all the officers off their feet

"careful with that fire Derpina!" Shyla called, scared

Derpina leapt into action and caught Lin just before she hit the ground, "She's not in control!" Derpina muttered, worried, placing her thumb on Lin's forehead. The officers started to get up and look back towards Derpina, Shyla and Lin, only to watch in surprise as Derpina grabbed Shyla's hand, and still carrying Lin, jump back onto the other roof

"who's in control!" Shyla exclaimed, holding on to Derpina's hand for dear life

"not me!" Derpina replied, landing perfectly in the dead centre of the building's roof. "hold on Lin!" Derpina muttered, placing her hand on Lin's forehead and breathing in, her hand glowed blue and Lin went limp, "there, she's unconscious but otay" Derpina reassured Shyla

"thank you" Shyla smiled, catching Lin

"think it was the bloodbending you mentioned to me" Derpina whispered to Shyla

"it was" Shyla confirmed with a nervous smile

"uuuuuggggghhhhh" Lin groaned, slowly stirring from unconsciousness

"mom…!" Shyla exclaimed, running to her

"the officers are going to try to get us again" Derpina muttered, half expecting them to be making their way across the roof towards them

"well let's book it!" Shyla exclaimed

"the officers are causing chaos down there!" Derpina yelped, having looked over the edge of the building

"son of a bitch!" Shyla yelled angrily as she watched the metalbending officers metalbend innocent, screaming citizens, she gasped as she heard the crack of a civilian's neck, and decided to try to stop them.

Shyla was stopped by Derpina who grabbed her wrist, "stop. Stay with Lin" Derpina whispered to Shyla, who nodded and ran back to Lin

Derpina's wings appeared once again and she leapt off of the building, flying into the air above the city, "who's controlling them?" Shyla asked, her having grabbed Derpina's wrist

"I don't know," Derpina became distracted once she had noticed some civilians had seen her

"whaaaaaaaaaaa…. The…. FUCK!?" the civilian screamed, having seen Derpina fly over the city, her wings spread to their fullest extent and the edges on fire

"someone is controlling them. Its bloodbending!" Shyla tried to explain to the terrified civilian, she had let go and dropped to the ground

"no!" he exclaimed, "what the fuck is that!?" he screamed in fear and pointed at Derpina

"She's my girlfriend" Shyla said, trying to calm the old man down, while helping Lin to walk. He continued to watch Derpina in fear as a metal cable from one of the officers snaked its way towards her from the roof of a nearby low building, only to melt when Derpina looked at it briefly, her wings caused such a massive disturbance in the air that no other officer's cables got anywhere near her. The officer who had thrown the first cable shrieked in pain as the melted cable dripped on to his hand and arm.

*

Shyla and Lin, holding on to each other for support, watched as Derpina flew effortlessly over the area where the fighting was happening, "I AM FLAME!!" Derpina's voice boomed out over the entire city, causing birds to take off in surprise and animals to scurry away, "GRANDMASTER OF FIREBENDING AND PROTECTOR OF THE CYCLE!" even the police officers had stopped, whoever was directing their actions was instead focusing on Derpina, "I demand you stop!!" Derpina roared, finishing her speech and sending a few massive jets of fire into the sky in an impressive show of her power

"whoa…" Shyla muttered, feeling the heat from the fire blasts even though they were directed into the sky. The metalbending officers attempted to shoot their cables up into the sky to tie Derpina up, but she dodged them easily having a near unlimited amount of manoeuvring space

Suddenly Shyla heard a voice in her head get _everyone to safety, I'll keep them busy_. Shyla realised Derpina's voice was in her head, after all she had mentioned she was able to speak telepathically to people before, but had implied that it was only between her and Korra

"be careful…" Shyla whispered, nodded and grabbed her mother's hand, pulling her towards the innocent civilians, the metal cables melted when Derpina launched a counterattack against the officers

"Shy, WATCH OUT!!" Derpina screamed, causing her to turn and see the oncoming metal cables, she dodged them, just about. _Your mercury… use it_ , once again Shyla had heard Derpina's voice in her head, she whipped it out and knocked away the cables, _get to each officer one at a time and restrain them, I will return them to normal_. Suddenly, non-benders ran out and, using the confusion, started attacking any bender who got too close. Shyla reacted immediately and caused her mercury to form a whip, she slung it around one of the officers and pulled it tight before he could hurt the non-benders with his own cables. Derpina dropped out of nowhere and placed her finger on the man's forehead, her hand glowed blue and the officer fell unconscious, released from the bloodbending hold instantaneously. Shyla nodded and let the mercury whip break, releasing the officer. Derpina nodded her approval, "next one," she growled, although smiling proudly at her partner. With Derpina seemingly distracted, two nearby non-benders took the opportunity to try to stab her, only to be thrown back and into a wall by a flick of her finger. Shyla reacted quickly, but not quick enough to prevent them from slamming into the wall, she caught them with her mercury whips, their heads rolling limply on their necks. "oops" Derpina growled when Shyla looked at her in surprise, Derpina turned to look at other non-benders who ran off, utterly terrified at this show of merciless psychokinesis. "can we finish with the officers?" Derpina inquired

"okay," Shyla smiled, Derpina flapped her wings and flew off into the sky again, holding Shyla underneath her, who was looking down at the ground. Shyla then spotted Tenzin, although he had clearly been unconscious recently, standing nearby, quickly trying to prepare himself in an effort to blow Derpina out of the air with airbending. "we need to fix him!" Shyla exclaimed loudly, surprising Derpina who looked over at her in surprise and confusion, "dad's still under control!"

A huge gust of wind created by the master airbender blew Derpina's flight off balance, Tenzin was forced to grin triumphantly by his puppetmaster, only to yelp in surprise when he was blasted off of his feet by an even more massive blast of hot air that slammed into him. "get to him!" Derpina exclaimed, dropping Shyla so she could use her mercury to restrain Tenzin, who growled and used his airbending to blast Shyla off of him and she slammed into a building, "SHYLA! NO!!" Derpina roared in pain and rage. A huge white fireball grew uncontrollably in between Derpina's hands, forcing them outwards as it grew bigger. Derpina's eyes changed once again and Tenzin's triumphant smile faltered. Shyla, who was unconscious on the ground, saw none of what followed; Derpina released the fireball, which, under its own power, flew at lightning speed towards the surprised airbending master who had, at that time been in the process of creating an airbending air blade to slit Shyla's throat. The fireball made contact with the master airbender and exploded forcefully, hurling him through multiple buildings at an impressive speed. "SHYLA!!" Derpina screamed and landed next to her, crying, she kneeled next to the young woman and picked her up. Shyla's head rolled limply on her neck.

"SHYLA!" Lin screamed, running over, when she didn't respond, Lin screamed her name again, and again, but stopped running forward when Derpina looked up at her, her eyes still changed which was enough to stop even the maternal urge to run to one's wounded child. Lin fell to her knees and sobbed, Derpina watched her closely, fearful that she would attack Shyla like Tenzin did.

"Der…" Shyla whimpered, waking slowly

"Shyla!" Derpina exclaimed, "you're alive!" Derpina moved her head slowly and kissed Shyla lightly on her forehead, healers arrived but were held back by Lin's cables to prevent them from being tossed around like Tenzin was.

Tenzin, who was just coming back from unconsciousness, wasn't too badly hurt considering the force of which the fireball had hit him, the suddenness of the explosion, and his trip through multiple building's worth of walls, whimpered from the pain, of which the healers couldn't do anything about and exclaimed "where am I? what… happened!?"

"dad…" Shyla looked at him weakly as he was moved back on a stretcher.

Tenzin looked at Derpina fearfully, "I apologise Tenzin" Derpina nodded, "you didn't give me much time to react… you were about to kill her." Shyla passed out and her heart rate slowed, Derpina growled and put her hand on Shyla's chest, using her healing abilities to restore her heart's function to normal, but before Derpina could heal any of Shyla's other injuries, multiple arrows shot through Derpina's back, forcing her to leave Shyla paralysed. "aaarrggghhhh!!" Derpina screamed, coughing up blood on to Shyla's top, her head fell forward on to Shyla's chest.

"Derpina! Derpina! Someone help!" Shyla exclaimed, yelling at the top of her voice. She noticed Derpina's breathing was rather weak, "Derpina…" she whispered, she tried to move but couldn't, causing her to panic, "someone please help!!" Shyla yelled, "I can't move! Suddenly ten more arrows shot into Derpina's back, causing blood to flow out of her mouth, but before Lin or any of the others could move to help, the arrows caught fire and in an explosion of white energy, both Shyla and Derpina disappeared.

*

Shyla narrowed her eyes to get used to the sun shining in her eyes. "where are we?" she called out, she noticed that although she couldn't feel it, Derpina's hand was still on her chest and she was still unconscious. Shyla's eyes adjust back to normal after being nearly blinded by the white explosion that had made them appear here, the second thing she saw after Derpina's head and neck was the lake edge. "the lake!" she cried with relief, finding her ability to move, even though it was just her left hand and arm, it reassured her that her body wasn't completely destroyed regardless of the seriousness of her injuries. She smiled, but then groaned in pain as a wave of pain passed over her, she then realised that she was not on the ground, but was lying at the bottom of the lake, "how am I not drowning?" she asked herself out loud, "I should be dead." Shyla pondered to herself why she was not dead, or drowning, but then realised Derpina's injuries were slowly healing themselves, the water that came into direct contact with Derpina's skin glowed a slight blue. "She's okay!" Shyla sighed, relieved, "good!"

Shyla closed her eyes but opened them again when Derpina wheezed "Shyla…" her eyes snapped open at the sound and she found herself looking into Derpina's brilliantly purple eyes, unusual for fire nation citizens who usually had red or brown eyes, perhaps they were another gift from Raava she wondered and resolved to ask her the next chance she got. Shyla attempted to move closer to Derpina then attempted to move Derpina's head closer, and cried when she could do neither. She grasped Derpina's hand tightly and closed her eyes, relieved by the contact, although tears ran down Derpina's face when she found she couldn't hold Shyla's hand back.

Shyla started sobbing too when all their attempts to reach one another failed, "Derpina…!" she sobbed

 _Did you really mean what you said when you said I was your girlfriend_?Shyla gasped, remembering that Derpina was a telepath, then realised she had to answer the question, which she did with a weak nod. Derpina summoned what was left of her strength and used firebending to jet herself over to Shyla, who grabbed Derpina with her one good arm and cried.

Derpina cried with her for a while, then asked one simple question, _ready to go back?_ _please_

Derpina concentrated for a few seconds, hold on tight, another explosion happened, this time blue, and they reappeared on Air Temple Island

*

"sweet land!" Shyla exclaimed, lying on solid ground

 _Don't move too much Shy, remember you're… ahem… we're hurt_

"sorry" Shyla groaned, falling to the ground.

"SHY!" Derpina exclaimed, but then left her on the ground to avoid injuring her further. Korra, having spotted Shyla and Derpina, gasped and ran off to get some acolytes to help. A few minutes later she was back, acolytes rushing up behind her. A powerful fire ring erupted around Derpina and Shyla, between Korra and them. As hard as Korra tried, she couldn't bend her way through it, it was too powerful, "NAME YOURSELF!!" Derpina's voice boomed

"Me?"

"NOBODY WILL PASS UNLESS I KNOW THEY ARE NOT A DANGER!"

"Flame… its Korra!"

"you may pass…" the voice quietened slightly and some of the fire ring opened up, enough to let Korra through, once she had passed safely through the gap in fire snapped shut again, "but they may not pass!" Korra ran over to Derpina and Shyla, who were lying paralysed next to one another, unnoticed by Shyla, Derpina was concentrating, using her abilities to heal Shyla.

"what about her parents?" Korra asked

 _Tenzin attacked her_ , Korra was the second person to hear Derpina's voice inside her head, Korra remembered that Wan had first experienced Derpina's telepathy after she was enhanced by Raava.

"what?! How could he have done that?!" Korra spluttered, shocked

 _I believe it was bloodbending, he almost killed her_. Korra gasped in surprise, _I smashed him with a, uhhh… largish fireball. I had no other choice. Tenzin is still alive and free from the bloodbending, as is Lin_

"then where are they?"

 _Back in Republic City I guess_ , Derpina stopped for a second, clearly weakened by having to maintain a hundred-foot-high wall of fire, _that's where I left them_

"I'll see if I can heal her" Korra whispered, moving forwards

 _You can try, I doubt you'll be able to though._ Korra attempted to heal Shyla, but to her surprise found no damage. _she needs to rest. That's why I haven't restored her ability to move yet, it's better that Shy thinks herself paralysed_. Korra nodded in agreement, seeing the wisdom in Derpina's words,I'm sorry Korra…

"why?"

The fire ring

"don't be, you were protecting her"

Thank you for understanding, Korra

Korra nodded, "I need to figure out who did this"

 _Not yet, Korra. I'm coming with you, but there's a slight problem_

"what?"

 _I'm paralysed_

"can I heal you?"

 _You can try, but I don't know if you can_

"watch me!" Korra announced confidently, pulling out her waterskin and bending the water over Derpina's body, it glowed blue but only partially healed Derpina, her arms were healed but her legs still led there immobile. "That's a start, let me keep going!" Korra exclaimed, but was unable to heal Derpina much more. "that's all I got"

"Sorry Korra"

"oh well"

"Give me time Korra, I will heal but it may take time"

Korra nodded, looked at Shyla and whispered, "her mom will kill me"

"Why Korra? We need to get inside"

"inside where? She's hurt and her mom will kill me for it"

"Where they can't get to us, the bloodbenders. She'll kill me more likely cos I was the one there"

"well I don't know" Korra sighed

I have a place, just the one. Derpina smiled up at her weakly, "thank you Korra for trying to heal me"

"it's nothing" Korra replied, "where?" she asked

"stay close"

"okay" Korra smiled, with another blue explosion, the three disappeared. Upon their disappearance, the ring of fire spluttered and died leaving no trace.

*

They reappeared next to the lake in the volcano, "woah!" Korra whispered, awestruck, spinning around on the spot, staring at the natural beauty that surrounded her

"one of my secret retreats, Korra" Derpina explained

"wow" Korra whispered, still trying to take it all in, "I'm impressed"

"why? I found it before my sleep, this and several other places"

"it's nothing I have seen, and I am impressed because of the stunning and untouched beauty of this place"

"I uhh kept them quiet" Derpina whispered

"I would too"

"remember Korra," Derpina began as Shyla began to wake up, _Shy needs to rest_ she finished with telepathy, earning a nod of understanding from Korra as Shyla turned her head slowly towards the two women. Derpina moved her legs into a more comfortable position

"Derpina…" Shyla began, noticing her and seeing her move her legs

"hey Shy…" Derpina smiled

"is everyone okay? Where are you?" Shyla whispered

"I'm here" Derpina whispered back, and crawled over to Shyla's side, dragging her left arm, which still wasn't working properly, "hey my beautiful Shyla" Derpina whispered and kissed her

"you're hurt"

"I'm otay"

"my parents" Shyla groaned, frowning

"I… don't know"

"what? Where are we?" Shyla asked panicked

"my place, remember?" Derpina tried to reassure her, "look around"

Shyla looked around and relief crossed her face, "it is your place, thank the spirits"

"I teleported again"

"you can do that…?"

"yea…" Derpina hummed, "told you grandmasters had unique skills" she smiled encouragingly at the young woman led in front of her, "you will be otay, Shy, I promise"

"my children" Shyla whispered weakly, "I need to get to them"

"you can't" Derpina said sadly, "you're still paralysed. I will, as soon as I can"

"I need them" Shyla paused letting her imagination run riot, "what if they are hurt!?"

Derpina closed her eyes for a few seconds, concentrating, "they are otay, hidden from everyone except Lin and one of the acolytes on Air Temple Island"

"spirits bless" Shyla exhaled, expelling most of her tension on one fell swoop

"I told the acolyte what would happen if she let anything happen to them through action or inaction, they are safe, Shy" Derpina turned to Korra, "Korra, help me stand?" Korra stepped forward and helped Derpina get her feet into the right positions to stand, then knelt to allow Derpina push up off of her shoulder in order to stand fully. "I need to get to the water," Korra nodded and helped Derpina stumble to the water's edge. Derpina smiled at Korra then leant forward and slid effortlessly into the water. "help Shy now, Korra. Carry her over and immerse her in the water, it has unique properties"

"spirit water" Korra marvelled

"courtesy of my old friend Raava, of course. She made several places for me in impossible to reach locations, so I can come here and be undisturbed if I needed to, to heal or relax"

"it's pretty" Korra agreed,

"pretty amazing" Shyla added

"well you probably know Raava better than me, Korra, so you know what she's like!" Derpina laughed loudly, she then took Shyla from Korra and lowered her into the water, "better, Shy?" she asked, Shyla groaned in reply and relaxed. Derpina turned back to Korra, holding Shyla in a tight hug, partially to relax her, but also partially to keep her head above the water, "I bet I can help you with your bending, no wait," she smiled down at the girl in her arms, "I bet WE can help you"

"what?" Korra replied, surprised

"when this one has recovered from her injuries, she can teach you a whole new subskill of metalbending. I can also teach you unique ways of firebending"

"I'm still new at it though!" Korra protested

"I kinda don't have the abilities you do with the elements so I came up with my own ways" Derpina continued, ignoring the protesting

"okay…" Korra replied

"I can't waterbend can I? or airbend?"

"I don't know!" Korra said, exasperated

"not in the traditional way I can't"

"well can't I teach you?" Korra inquired

"no, I'm only a firebender. I can however, control heat. I can control heat currents in both water and air"

"well then hmm"

"which gives me control, well in a clumsy way, over both air and water"

"it's something"

"and I have had millennia of practice, well through others I have. I have refined it to a fine art over the years"

"show me" Korra demanded

Derpina handed Shyla to Korra and stood, waved her arms then pointed them in Korra and Shyla's direction. A massive wave of air blew over them, almost knocking them both back into the water, Derpina smiled at the sight of the Avatar, the most powerful bender in the world, holding on tightly to a rock she had bent out of the otherwise smooth lake bed because of a wave of air she, a firebender, had created. "I did not manipulate the air itself" Derpina explained, "rather the heat in the air!"

"impressive" Korra acknowledged

"and…" Derpina created a massive wave of water, and again directed it towards the two other benders

"woah!!" Shyla exclaimed

"sorry Shy"

"why?"

"I created a wave while you're in the water"

"interesting" Shyla pondered

"you otay Shy?" Derpina asked

"fine. Just worried" she replied

"I'll be back in a minute" Derpina announced, before getting up

"what? Where are you going?" Shyla asked

"to collect a few things" Derpina said vaguely, "Korra, keep Shy in the water and look after her for a bit…" Korra nodded, a fireball engulfed Derpina and she disappeared once again


	7. Family

Shyla sighed and looked up at Korra who clambered back over the low wall into the lake to sit with Shyla and support her. "she'll be back…" Shyla whispered, full of hope. Sure enough, ten minutes later another larger fireball erupted and Derpina reappeared with Shyla's entire family clinging on to her, Lin and Monika carried two babies each and Tenzin carried a few light bags. "thank the spirits!" Shyla exclaimed after gasping at their sudden appearance, Tenzin staggered and groaned because of his chest injury that Derpina had dealt him earlier. "dad… careful!" Shyla yelped, trying to stand to run over to him only to be restrained by Korra

"Shyla, no!" Korra whispered

"Derpina, help him sit down please?" Shyla asked when Tenzin groaned again, Derpina helped him sit down and he sighed in relief.

"thank you," he breathed, his breathing somewhat laboured

Shyla nodded in relief, "I need to move" she spluttered

"What?" Derpina asked, having walked over to her and knelt by the wall

"I need to get out of this water!" Shyla exclaimed, frustrated

"Shy, you need to stay there" Derpina said calmly

"why?!" she exclaimed, incensed

"it helps you"

"I don't feel helped!" Shyla growled and crossed her arms

"see? It's helping you!" Derpina smiled

"what?"

"you just crossed BOTH arms!" Derpina exclaimed happily

"huh?"

"you could only move one arm!" Derpina exclaimed

"I'm fine." She said sadly

"both arms, Shy… you can move both arms, you are healing!"

"can I hold two of my kids?"

"of course, Shy!" Derpina grinned, jumped out of the water, flew smoothly over to where Lin and Monika were sitting with the four babies in their arms. Derpina held out her arms and Lin handed her both of the children she held, before she returned her attention to Monika and the two babies she held. Derpina walked back to the lake while making stupid faces to amuse the babies, jumped over the low wall and handed the babies to Shyla, who smiled widely and held them close

"you are my whole world, Shy" Derpina whispered to her, she put her arm around her girlfriend and squeezed her slightly

"I hope I can be"

Derpina leaned in to kiss Shyla, "I love you," she exclaimed proudly. They looked up to see Korra help a grunting Tenzin back into the water, he groaned and relaxed when he was sat down. "Tenzin, I would like to apologise again"

"what?" Shyla said, confused

"he almost killed you, Shy!"

"dad… Why?" Shyla whispered, shocked and nearly crying

"he was under the control of that bloodbending shit"

"are you okay now?" Shyla asked sadly, looking from Derpina to her father

"he should be fine" Derpina said, trying to reassure her girlfriend

"except from the stomach," Tenzin groaned, still in discomfort, "I'm okay, Shyla. Grandmaster Flame" he stopped again and bowed his head in a gesture of respect, "you are powerful and you saved my daughter's life." Shyla looked happily at the two babies in her arms, Derpina also smiled when Shyla handed the two babies she had been holding to Derpina and took the other two from Korra

"Korra," Derpina smiled, "Shy should be healed in a few hours, as should Tenzin"

"I can help" she replied

"join us Korra, it'll help relax you" Derpina smiled and shifted over, closer to Shyla, to make room for her

"okay" she replied, and vaulted back over the wall with a splash

"what about you two?" Derpina called with a smile, "Monika? Lin?"

"we are okay" Monika called back, her head on Lin's shoulder

"otay!" Derpina grinned, she pulled Shyla closer and they smiled, both holding the babies, "Shy, you do realise these ones are gonna need a second parent?"

"I know…" Shyla replied, sighing, "I don't know what to do"

"would you mind it being…" Derpina blushed bright red

"Derpina, are you sure? Your life as a protector… besides, two mothers?"

"I would love it, you have two and didn't turn out so badly, the babies' father was slaughtered by the Grandmaster of Firebending for being a twat after all" Shyla nodded and smiled

"may I say something?" Korra asked

"yea, of course!"

"you said the spirits summoned you and you don't know why?" she smiled at Derpina, "maybe you were supposed to come to be with Shyla?"

"possibly…" Derpina pondered, made happy by the thought. Shyla smiled and kissed Derpina sweetly, "I love you Shy!"

"I love you too!" Lin rolled her eyes

"you're in love too, Lin…" Derpina added, and Lin smiled reluctantly, having been caught out by someone who looked half her age. Derpina winked at Shyla and kissed her again, she continued to grin back at Derpina

"wow… a family!" Shyla whispered, she grinned back at Derpina who was watching her and kissed her, "can we all go home?"

"it's not safe, Shy" Derpina whispered sadly

"oh." Shyla said sadly

"you still can't move your legs, Tenzin is still injured and so am I…" Derpina whispered, looking down

"I'm sorry" Shyla sighed, "I wasn't thinking"

"no need to apologise, Shy" Derpina smiled back at her, and Shyla smiled too, Derpina then kissed her again

"I love you" Shyla sighed, smiling

"I love you more…" Derpina challenged, Shyla grinned happily, "aww they're soooo adorable!" Derpina exclaimed, looking down at the babies and listened to them making baby noises, Shyla giggled happily and rubbed their backs, "my babies"

"are you okay with that?" Shyla asked, awestruck

"hell yeah!" Derpina exclaimed, giggling

"language…" Shyla scalded her

"that's not bad language?" Derpina replied, confused, but became even more confused when Shyla nudged her. Derpina, unsure of what was going on, simply kissed her cheek

"stay with me?"

"for the rest of your life!" Derpina yelled, and was pulled close by Shyla, the babies simply smiled up at their mothers

"aww!" Shyla exclaimed, overwhelmed with joy, "they smiled!"

"it must be my body heat" Derpina grinned, teasing Shyla

"how?"

"or maybe they just feel safe?"

"I hope so"

"try to move your legs," Derpina encouraged Shyla, smiling. Shyla did so, straining to move her legs, "easy…" Derpina said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Korra, Lin? Can you take the babies from us please?" they both nodded and took the babies from the couple. Derpina then moved closer to support Shyla, "easy… easy… Shy, slowly" Derpina whispered, trying to calm Shyla down.

ten minutes later, Shyla was still struggling to stand even with Derpina's support, "Shy, you're doing it!" she encouraged, "slowly…" Shyla stood fully and caught herself as she stumbled, before she wobbled and leant on Derpina more before taking her hands off of Derpina's shoulders and standing by herself, smiling triumphantly. "told you you could do it!!" Derpina exclaimed and Shyla smiled, Derpina hugged her and she teared up. "my beautiful Shy!" Derpina whispered, wiping her eyes and cheeks

"my beautiful Derpina!" Shyla replied, Derpina kissed her again quickly, and when she was pulled closer by Shyla, picked her up and swung her around happily. "WOOOO!!!!" Shyla shrieked, encouraging Derpina to swing her around more and both women laughed.

Shyla put her hand on Derpina's shoulder which prompted her to put her down, "Derpina… are you gonna leave me?" Shyla asked, terrified

"leave? What do you mean?"

"back into a star?" Shyla inquired sadly

"no. no no no!" Derpina exclaimed, "not if I can help it!" she shook her head frantically, "I will not leave!"

"good!" Shyla whispered, snuggling into her

"I am Flame…" Derpina growled

"what?"

Show yourself!" Derpina said, more forcefully. An arrow shot out of the woods in the distance towards Korra, Shyla leapt on her and forced her to the floor with a surprised yelp. Derpina's wings appeared and she launched herself at Korra and Shyla, the arrow caught fire with a look from Derpina who then promptly landed on Shyla and Korra, much to their annoyance

Shyla panted in discomfort, having been sandwiched between Korra and Derpina but she forgot her discomfort when she heard screams coming from a nearby wood and Korra ran towards them, ducking as another arrow flew towards her. More screams from the nearby wood encouraged Shyla to stand and run forward. A would-be assassin ran out of the wood, on fire and screaming in pain. Shyla slung her mercury, wrapped it tightly around the assassin, only to gasp when a massive fireball appeared around the assassin and incinerated him. "never mind then…" Shyla muttered and scowled at Derpina.

"you tried to kill my girlfriend!!" Derpina roared, her voice booming around the volcano, "and you ended up dying yourself!" Shyla turned again to look at Derpina, her wings were out at full extent

"wow!" Shyla muttered, Derpina changed back to her normal appearance, "that was cool…" Shyla whispered

"I love you Shy"

"I love you more" it was Shyla's turn to challenge Derpina

"impossible!" Derpina exclaimed

"but it is!" Shyla giggled

"you're right…" Derpina paused, "it is impossible for you to love me more" she countered, Shyla shook her head and looked at the babies, "you are able to walk now" Derpina smiled

"yay!" Shyla exclaimed and walked forward, with Derpina close by her side in case she fell

"it's easy!" Shyla grinned, walking slowly

"you're still a bit weak," Derpina warned as she caught Shyla who had stumbled

"I'm fine" Shyla said stubbornly

"really?"

"Derpina, I am okay!" Derpina looked worried, but the worry was unfounded when Shyla stepped forward and walked without fail

"nobody should be able to find this place" Derpina muttered thoughtfully

"good"

"then who is he?" Derpina asked and pointed at the remains

"no idea…"

"we are no longer safe"

"clearly…"

"we need to move out"

"where?"

"I do not know"

"your secret places?"

"I'm going to have to destroy this one when we leave" Derpina said sadly

"why?"


	8. Derpina Alone

Shyla and her family saw another lake, more beautiful than the last. The water in the lake had a faint blue glow to it that appeared uniform over the entire lake. The area around the lake was surrounded by magma and the lake was clearly inside a dormant volcano

"amazing…!!!" Shyla exclaimed, even more impressed than last time at the sheer beauty of the water, the magma and the open grassy areas behind the lake

"Shy, you gonna come back with me? I need to destroy the old place" Derpina smiled, opening her arms for Shyla who nodded and came forward. Derpina grabbed her and they both disappeared in another fireball, appearing instantaneously in what they had once called home. "now… we destroy it!" Derpina growled, looking at the corpse she burnt to death

"okay…!" Shyla cracked her knuckles. Derpina grinned and raised her arms, the ground started to shake and the lake began to steam, "whoa!" Shyla exclaimed, bracing herself against the tremors. Shyla then growled and slammed the falling boulders into the cliffs

"no Shy, we need to destroy this place"

"that's what I'm doing!" Shyla exclaimed. She noticed a crack in the ground and leapt out of the way as it began to glow, she grabbed hold of a ledge and swung herself out of the way of the jet of magma.

Derpina paused in her efforts to smash the cliffs down into the area where they stood for long enough to carry Shyla to her side using heatbending, "thanks" Shyla nodded at Derpina who smiled before returning to creating more destructive plumes of magma

"earthbend please, Shy!" Derpina said hurriedly and Shyla started lobbing rocks. A few minutes later, she yelled "get close, Shyla!"

Shyla stepped closer as she was instructed and Derpina growled, lowering her arms to her side, the volcano began to collapse. "Let's go!!" Shyla yelled over the rumbling

"one more!" Derpina yelled back, her eyes then changed and she raised her arms. The volcano shook more violently than ever, more jets of magma shooting up out of the widening cracks in the ground. "GO!!!!" Derpina roared and teleported a fraction of a second before a jet of magma shot out where they were standing.

Reappearing in Derpina's new volcano hideout, Shyla grinned at Derpina, "wow…!" she said breathlessly, "your power is amazing!"

"I flattened the cliffs around the volcano, then caused it to erupt"

"whoa…?!" Shyla gasped, causing Derpina to smile happily. Korra and the others approached them both, Derpina's eyes returned to normal before they could get to them.

"all done, we're all safe" Derpina said, nodding at the family and Korra

"we can stay here now?" Shyla inquired

"yes, we are safe" Derpina nodded and Shyla hugged her mothers and father excitedly, relieved to be safe once again.

Derpina sat down, watching the family take joy in each other's presence only to be surprised when Shyla disentangled herself from them and ran to her, throwing her arms around Derpina. Derpina paused for a second, surprised, but then smiled even wider than before and Shyla grinned in her arms, "I love you Derpina!" she exclaimed. Derpina picked her up and kissed her lips, Shyla gently touched Derpina's cheek in reply, "I love you…" Shyla whispered

"I love you more!" Derpina grinned, stroking her cheek before promptly falling asleep in Shyla's lap

*

Shyla held Derpina closely for an hour or so, before she also fell asleep. Lin looked over and smiled when she saw the two women hugging each other in their sleep. Shyla gently talked in her sleep, and to Lin's surprise, Derpina replied

 _Derpina, how?_ Shyla asked surprised as she found herself sitting next to Derpina on the most beautiful beach she had ever seen

 _It's a telepathic dream, it just happens sometimes_ Derpina replied telepathically, removing any doubt from Shyla that she was in an ordinary dream, or that Derpina had teleported them while they were asleep

 _It's awesome!_ Shyla whispered, talking in the dream, but communicating with Derpina telepathically

 _I love you my beautiful Shyla_. in the dream Derpina moved closer to Shyla, _you are the safest you have ever been, you are my beautiful baby girl!_

 _Why are you so good to me?_ Shyla wondered in her mind

 _Because you are the girl I love, Shy. I will spend the rest of your life with you_. With that, Shyla teared up, happier than she could ever remember being, and much to Lin and Monika's amazement, Derpina reached out and gently wiped Shyla's tears, Shyla tightened her grip on Derpina in response.

"wh… what…? How are they doing that?" Lin gasped

"I don't know" Monika replied

"they're freaky" Lin grinned

"we can't begin to understand" Korra interrupted

Derpina squeezed Shyla closer to her and kissed her nose in her sleep, Shyla smiled and Tenzin stopped, he had been walking towards them. "woah!" he exclaimed in surprise, "what's going on!?"

"we don't know" Lin replied

"what is this?" Tenzin wondered, "not even the Avatar can do that. Trust me I've known two and neither of them have replied to another person in their sleep"

"I don't know!" Lin exclaimed

*

Derpina and Shyla slowly woke up at the same time, the last thing Shyla experienced in the dream was the entirety of Derpina's loneliness, the whole ten thousand years' worth of Derpina's total isolation. Shyla yawned and look down sadly, "Shy?" Tenzin asked, "you okay?"

"she was alone…"

"who?" Lin asked, putting her hand on Shyla's shoulder

"Derpina"

"Derpina?" Lin inquired

"yea"

"alone?" Tenzin asked. Derpina walked out into the lake and led back in the water, tears ran down her face, but nobody noticed the tears

"in that star" Shyla explained

"how do you know this?" Lin asked, confused

"the telepathy… it showed me" Shyla said, a few tears running down her face

"telepathy?" Monika whispered

"I was in her mind basically"

"I know what it is" Monika said, "but, how?"

"I don't know"

"where is she?" Tenzin muttered, looking around

"She's swimming" Shyla replied

"I can't see her, Shy" Tenzin said, standing and looking around again, "are you sure She's okay?"

"I think…"

*

Three hours passed and Shyla started to get worried, "now I'm worried," Shyla stated, walking up to Tenzin, Lin and Korra. Monika was watching the babies who couldn't be left unattended. "I need to find her!" Tenzin and the others started looking for her. "babe!?" Shyla called, searching for Derpina, "Derpina!!" Shyla called having seen Derpina standing on the cliff, the one of the magma pools directly beneath her. Derpina either didn't hear Shyla call or ignored her, so Shyla yelled her name at the top of her voice, earthbending herself up the cliff. Derpina turned and Shyla saw the deep sadness in her eyes, Derpina shook her head when Shyla waved her to her, "if I stay then after when what the spirits have summoned me for, I'll have to go back into that star, away from you. My beloved Shy, I'd rather die now, happy, than die later having suffered through untold millennia without you" Derpina whispered sadly, "I love you"

"no!" Shyla exclaimed, "no, no, please!" Shyla sobbed, "I need you!" Derpina burst into tears too, "please don't go!" Shyla grabbed Derpina's wrist, "what about our family?!"

"s… s… Shy…" Derpina exclaimed, she collapsed and sobbed uncontrollably, unable to take the last step

"shhhhh" Shyla breathed, stroking Derpina's cheek and rubbing her back comfortingly, "I got you." Derpina cried harder, horrified that she could have thought about leaving Shyla, slowly sobbing less when Shyla resumed stroking her cheek although tears still streamed down her face. "it's okay," Shyla whispered soothingly, "please don't cry." Lin ran up, having used her cables to climb the cliff, only to stop when she saw Derpina being held tightly, crying out of control. "shhh" Shyla whispered while Lin climbed the last few metres, she walked up to Derpina and Shyla and sat next to them.

"Derpina, what's wrong?" Lin asked, stunned. She sat down next to them and Shyla looked up at her

"she almost left" Shyla whispered sadly

"left?"

"she thought she had to go back into the star"

"she… was going to… jump?" Lin gasped, horrified

"I think" Derpina nodded, confirming that jumping was her intention

"but she didn't jump…" Shyla sighed with relief, when Derpina tried to move Shyla exclaimed "NO!" loudly

Derpina screamed and cried, "I wanna get closer, snuggle!! SHY!!" Derpina yelled, Shyla returned her attention to Derpina, wrapping her arms tightly around her and when Derpina broke down crying in her arms, Shyla started to rock, trying to soothe Derpina

"Shy…" Derpina choked, "I love you"

"I love you too," Derpina started to cry again, "it's okay honey" Shyla breathed, still trying to calm Derpina

"I love you Shy" Derpina gasped, "p… promise me you won't ever leave?"

"I won't ever leave"

Derpina stopped crying and kissed her, Shyla kissed back and smiled, "you are my beautiful Shyla"

"I will always be" Derpina grinned and kissed her nose, and Shyla giggled, gently touching Derpina's cheek.

Lin groaned and walked away, struggling to conceal the small smile that was pulling at her lips. Her daughter had found true love


	9. Chaos to Order

Shyla sighed, "what, Shy?" Derpina asked

"my family…"

"I can go… if you want" Derpina asked

"what? Please don't" Shyla replied, panicking a little, having misunderstood Derpina's meaning

"I mean I can leave you with your family for a while if you want?"

"no I can balance" Shyla smiled

"Shy… it's happening again…" Derpina looked worried

"what is?"

"that bloodbending shit"

"to whom?!" Shyla exclaimed

"I can't tell… we need to get there!" Shyla grabbed Derpina and they teleported to Republic City

"okay, where to?" Shyla asked

"you know this place better than me"

"well I don't know where people are in danger!" Shyla growled, pulling Derpina down just in time to avoid an incoming fireball aimed at her head

"urk!" Derpina choked, falling on Shyla

"careful!" Shyla exclaimed, Derpina jumped up, grabbed the bender and threw him. "never mind"

"why is there fighting, Shy? I thought you said the war was over?"

"well there's thugs" Shyla growled

"bloodbending thugs?" Derpina asked, having previously been told that bloodbenders were very rare, there only having been five in the entirety of recorded history

"I guess so" Shyla shrugged

"I don't think so" Derpina muttered, "this is too organised!"

"hmm" Shyla hummed

"who is the bloodbender?"

"I don't know"

"I think we're about to be captured!" Derpina sighed

"where are they?!" Shyla growled, then her body froze up rendering her unable to move. "Derpina!" she exclaimed as the blood in her arms forced her to bend rocks around Derpina

"Shy, everything will be otay" Derpina whispered, trying to calm her

"Derpina I can't move!" Shyla yelled, Derpina smiled weakly causing Shyla to cry. Shyla then was forced to move her arms and bend more rock to completely encase Derpina. "Derpina! Move!" she yelled just before the rocks sealed around her

"she can't" a voice echoed from behind Shyla, Tarrlok walked up behind her, "pity bloodbending doesn't work on her, she'd be an amazing firebender to control!"

"let her… GO!!" Shyla screeched

"maybe you should let her go?" Tarrlok sneered, mocking Shyla, "you're the one that trapped her!"

"I can't!" she exclaimed desperately

"then why should I?" he laughed evilly

"please" Shyla begged, closing her eyes

"I can't control her, but I can control you," Tarrlok laughed evilly, "do what I want or I crush her!"

Shyla nodded at him, _Shyla… don't worry about me, look up_ , Derpina's voice echoed in Shyla's head and Shyla just about managed to fight the bloodbending for long enough to look up to see several fireballs shoot into the air from the roof of one of the skyscrapers

"WHAT?!" Shyla exclaimed, forcing the word past her locked jaw

 _Guess where I am…_

 _On the… roof_ Shyla smiled proudly

 _Yes, Shy. Keep him busy_ Derpina grinned

 _How?_ _No idea, I'm gonna fry his ass though!_ Derpina's rage at Shyla being bloodbent poured through Shyla's mind and she smiled

"what are you grinning at, insignificant earthbender?!" Tarrlok growled

"oh nothing" Shyla smirked

"tell me…" he paused, "or I crush your friend. she is, after all just a firebender, nothing important, nothing special"

"what?" Shyla said, surprised, "she is to me"

"even more reason for you to tell me, or I really will force YOU to crush her!"

"please no…" Shyla begged

"tell me what you… are…" he stopped, looked down at his body, his face contorted in pain.

Derpina landed behind Tarrlok and Shyla grinned, "spirits yeah!" She exclaimed

"YOU MAY HAVE BLOODBENDING, BUT I HAVE BLOODBOILING!!" Derpina roared at Tarrlok, her voice echoing as far as the mountains, the shock of which caused Tarrlok to partially release Shyla in surprise, Shyla laughed when Tarrlok screamed in pain from Derpina's boiling of his blood. "let… her… go…" Derpina growled, "and I will stop." Shyla looked at him, enjoying watching him suffer, what bloodbenders had done to her mother was fresh in her mind. Tarrlok gasped in pain and dropped to the floor, releasing Shyla as he fell. "just a firebender?" Derpina laughed, "scum!" she yelled.

Shyla panted from the pain and led still on the ground. Derpina ran to her and picked her up while everyone around them who had been under Tarrlok's control returned to normal. Shyla held on to Derpina tightly, "Shy, I'm here" she whispered, "I'm sorry"

"it wasn't you"

"you shouldn't have come, I shouldn't have let you" Derpina said regretfully

"I'm okay!"

"I shouldn't have put you in danger!"

"it's okay, really"

"are you hurt, Shy?" Derpina asked, giving her a once over with her eye

"no, I'm okay"

Derpina clicked her fingers and Lin, Monika and Tenzin appeared by their side, they all looked around, astonished by the amount of damage. bodies were lying everywhere and several buildings were burning, "my city…" Lin sighed

"all benders…" Derpina said sadly, looking at several children

"too many dead" Shyla sighed

"I can try to help them" Derpina said solemnly, "I can TRY, but they died violent deaths, torn apart by that bloodbender or non-benders, I'm sorry Shy" Derpina sighed, "I'm sorry Lin"

"it's alright" Lin whispered

"I'll try to help them, I'll start with the children"

"okay…" Shyla replied

"Shy, where's Korra?" Derpina asked, having knelt next to several young benders sadistically killed by Tarrlok before Derpina and Shyla had got back to the city. Derpina placed her hand on their foreheads and started using her healing powers to try to heal them, "Korra can help those who are injured, leave the rest to me"

"I don't know, Derpina" Shyla replied

"can you go find Korra, Shy?" Derpina looked at her and gently touched her hand, "Lin? Find your officers, perhaps they can help us, Monika, see who is still alive and who is injured, if any. Tenzin, go find a high vantage point and try to keep an eye out for trouble" when they nodded Derpina exclaimed, "let's go!!" and they moved out.

*

Dammit _Korra, I need you!_ Derpina exclaimed telepathically

 _What?!_ Korra exclaimed in her mind, surprised, _Flame?_

 _I need you here to heal the wounded, also try to round up as many healers as possible_ _Alright, Flame_ _Hurry, Korra, I've sent Shyla to find you_ _She's here_ Korra replied in her mind, Shyla ran up to her and grabbed her hand, dragging her back to the scene of the attack

 _Can you guys hurry?_ Derpina asked, a few minutes later they ran up to Derpina, "help me with the healing!" Derpina exclaimed, Korra immediately ran forward to heal a wounded woman, "Shy! Use the mercury!" Derpina encouraged, looking at the young woman and nodding

"on what?" Shyla muttered, confused

"the injured!" Derpina exclaimed, "Korra, Shy, I'm creating a telepathic link between you two so Shy can use her mercury to heal, she'll be able to access the knowledge from you, Korra"

"okay!" Shyla smiled, she stepped forward and started to use the mercury on another person, the metal acquired a slight blue tinge

"perfect!" Derpina exclaimed, proudly, Derpina's hands glowed blue and one of the children's eyes open after being dead for an hour

"wow…" Shyla gasped and Derpina smiled down at the boy

"an angel…" the boy marvelled

"although I am Flame, a Grandmaster, I'm nothing quite as fancy as an angel" the boy smiled at Derpina, "I am Flame, Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Cycle, or just Derpina to my friends" she smiled kindly at the boy, "so now you know I'd better get on you know" Derpina stood and two officers stepped forward, putting the boy on a stretcher to take him to the nearby hospital to recover. She moved on to the next couple of kids, _Korra, Shy, how's it going?_ Derpina called with her mind,

"got one!" Shyla called from behind Derpina

 _Same here_ Korra called back.

Derpina continued to heal everyone she came across, "I'm running out of time to heal them…" Derpina muttered, _Tenzin, any danger?_ _Not that I can see_ _Whereabouts are you?_ Derpina inquired, and Tenzin who had never used telepathy before, resorted to the more traditional way, and waved at Derpina from a nearby skyscraper. Derpina waved back at Tenzin, _keep an eye on Korra, Lin, Shy and Monika, let me know immediately if ANYTHING untoward pops up!_ Tenzin nodded and Derpina returned to healing more people, with Shyla helping other healers carefully. _you're doing so well, Shy_ Derpina smiled

"thank you" she replied, obtaining curious glances from one or two of the healers who were unaware of Derpina's telepathic abilities. Derpina finished healing another child who woke up and smiled, "hi, you're otay now" Derpina said kindly

"thank you," the boy replied, he then screamed when he caught sight of someone launching themselves at Derpina, one of Derpina's wings appeared and swatted the man away, effortlessly throwing him several hundred feet and the knife flew from his hand

"whoa!" Shyla exclaimed, turning ready to jump to Derpina's aid

"not again…!" Derpina growled, flying into the air effortlessly with a single flap of her wings that had appeared seconds before, she lobbed a fireball at the attacker, "grr" she growled before she landed and returned to healing the wounded boy, who groaned and fell unconscious

"Lin! Monika! Keep them safe after they are healed. They're in danger until the cops get here to take them to safety, someone's targeting benders, therefore they're still in danger!" they both nod, "Lin, who's attacking the benders?"

"the Equalists!" she gasped

"and they are?"

"bender hypocrites!" she growled angrily

"explain?"

"benders who hate benders" Lin elaborated

"which makes no sense but they will all die"

"good" Lin nodded a fierce look in her eyes

"they hurt children, the easiest way to make me kill you is to hurt a child!" an Equalist chose that moment to throw a small lump of rock at Derpina which Derpina smashed with an even smaller fireball, before lobbing another fireball at the man who died slowly from his burns. "I AM FLAME!" Derpina roared, her eyes changing and the fire in her hands spread across her entire body, and her wings when they appeared, "this ends HERE! This ends NOW!" she yelled, three Equalist Chiblockers who had been charging at Derpina froze in surprise and fear, "yea…" Derpina grinned

"look!!" the child Derpina had saved earlier called, "she is an angel!!"

The Chiblockers slowly backed away, and turned to run, only to stop and yell in pain a few seconds later, they collapsed unmoving a second later

"what…?" Korra whispered in surprise

"bloodboiling…" Derpina grinned

"wow" Shyla muttered

Derpina smiled evilly and Shyla nudged her "what?"

"that smile"

"what's wrong with it?" Derpina asked

"nothing"

"aren't I allowed to enjoy hurting people who killed children?" Derpina frowned at Shyla, "innocent children, Shy"

"you are" Shyla also smiled, "I enjoyed it to, admittedly"

"let's fry!" Derpina exclaimed and smiled evilly

"how?"

"find them and burn them… all" Derpina snarled viciously, "do you have a TV transmitter nearby?"

"TV?" Shyla pondered

"a radio? Image transmitter? Or anything?

"radio?"

"good enough. Get me on it!"

"okay" Shyla grinned, "uh… how?"

"I don't know"

"damn"

"how do you get me on to the radio?" Derpina asked

"I don't know"

"I'm about to declare war on the Equalists!" Derpina declared, much to Shyla's surprise, "I need that transmitter" she smiled

"don't!" Shyla exclaimed, scared

"why not?!"

"war will hurt citizens!"

"and you're right, but so will not be taking action. I'm not going to let another person be touched by these assholes!" Derpina growled, and Shyla smiled, Derpina opened her arms and Shyla hugged her. Derpina kissed Shyla before continuing, "now I see three maybe four ways to sort this out"

"what kind?"

"option one, declare war on the Equalists"

"next"

"option two is try to round them all up and give them inadequate justice"

"inadequate?" Shyla whispered

"jail time… lock them up. They will escape and once again ravage the city"

"not while I'm alive!" Lin declared, irritated

"how do you hope to contain them?" Derpina looked Lin directly in the eyes, "they'd just have your officers release them. Third option is to let me kill them" when Shyla, Lin and Korra looked down Derpina shrugged, "or forth," she continued, "let me lead them away from the city, THEN I declare war on them"

"but you'll get hurt!" Lin pleaded

"not as likely as you'd think, Lin!" Derpina smiled and winked

"okay" Shyla nodded

"only three of those can be used, jail just doesn't seem… bad enough, besides, they'd escape"

"death seems a luxury to us!" Shyla replied

"the way I can kill?"

"after you make them suffer!" Lin growled, remembering what they had done to her

"I can make them suffer for all eternity!" Derpina snarled

"do it!" Lin growled

"there's only one other way" Derpina growled

"what?" Shyla inquired

"energybending, it's a way to remove the danger they pose, but, again, I don't think it's a severe enough punishment"

"they live without bending?" Shyla asked

"yea… it was used… in the old days" Derpina looked away, forcibly suppressing the memories once again

"I like the idea" Shyla acknowledged

"I don't!" Derpina snarled, "the only punishment for killing innocent children is a proper punishment!!" Lin nodded pointedly, agreeing completely with what Derpina had suggested

"death is a luxury" Shyla repeated

"how about living forever, burning?" Derpina suggested

"I like that!" Shyla exclaimed, Lin also nodded and Derpina smiled in agreement

Derpina signalled Lin's lieutenant, who ran over, "lock up the Equalists who haven't harmed children, bring those that have to me"

The lieutenant, Sud, looked at Lin, who nodded, "do as she said Sud, you wouldn't like what would happen if you don't," Sud ran off to follow his orders

"Shy!" Derpina called, "how's the healing coming?"

"almost done my twentieth person!" Shyla called back, having moved away from Derpina to continue healing after their meeting

"Great!" Derpina exclaimed proudly, "Korra?" she continued

"I'm good" Korra replied

"how many more to go?" Derpina groaned, "I've healed loads, and there's still more bodies!" she whispered sadly

"one hundred done, only a few left" Shyla whispered

Derpina moved on to the next victim of the Equalists and stopped, "what?" Shyla asked, Derpina's eyes changed into their cat-like appearance. "whoa!" Shyla exclaimed, not expecting her eyes to change as she couldn't see any danger

"it's coming!" Derpina said in a mysteriously different voice, her eyes glowing "the reason is coming!" Derpina collapsed unconscious. Shyla yelled, ran to her side and found Derpina in a coma.

"Derpina!!" Shyla cried, she touched her forehead and picked her up. Derpina flopped unresponsively in Shyla's arms. "oh no…" Shyla muttered, put Derpina down and ran over to Korra

"there's nothing I can do, Shyla. She's in a protector coma"

"how long?" Shyla asked, and looked down at the vulnerable looking grandmaster

"I have no idea…" Korra replied, Derpina's head rolled against Shyla's shoulder as she sat down, "Shy, you must understand, this is what happens… she was summoned, for her duty. We're all in danger, I'M in danger"

"She's protecting you…?"

"no, not yet. This is forewarning, it means the Avatar is in danger, and the Avatar Spirit itself is in danger"

"oh dear…"

"yea… She's at her most vulnerable at the moment, we need to keep her safe until she wakes. Shyla?"

"what?"

"keep her safe"

"I'll do my best"

*

"Shyla! GET TO HER!!" Korra yelled, a fireball was building up around Derpina, she was preparing to teleport, "BEFORE she disappears!" Shyla ran forward with Korra yelling behind her, she threw her arms around Derpina a fraction of a second before she disappeared, Shyla panted when the teleportation completed and deposited Derpina, who was still in her protector coma and completely unresponsive, even to telepathy and Shyla somewhere else, although she didn't immediately recognise where she was, the volcano. _Shyla, are you safe?_ Korra's voice echoed in Shyla's head

 _I thinkShyla thought back_ _Well being alive is a good start, is she alive? Is Flame okay?_ _I think so_ _Good. Keep her safe, if you're somewhere with one of those lakes, submerge her in it_ _Okay_ , Shyla replied, still thinking quietly and wishing Derpina would interrupt her, or wake up, _I'll look_. Shyla stood up and looked around

 _She loves you Shyla, she is in love with you_ _I know_ _Get her in that water!_ Korra exclaimed in her thoughts, feeling Derpina weaken. Shyla hurriedly carried Derpina to the lake. Shyla lowered Derpina carefully into the water, and she led there unmoving and unresponsive

 _What now?!_ _Stay with her, protect her!_ _Right._

"w… where did Derpina go?" the kid that Derpina had healed earlier called while he ran up to Korra, a tired looking police officer trailed behind him, trying to get him to return to the hospital

 _She went to be safe_

"wha…?? How? Who? I heard someone in my head!" the boy exclaimed to Korra

 _It's telepathy_ the voice said _,I hear your thoughts and you can hear mine_ , it explained

 _What? Who is this?_ The boy thought, catching on quickly despite his surprise and confusion

 _The girl_ _Which girl?_ _Shyla, Derpina's girlfriend_ _The girl who vanished? Where are you?_ _I don't know, boy_ Shyla replied, impressed by how quickly the boy had adapted to using telepathy

 _Can I speak to her?_ _She's unconscious_ _Will she be okay?_ _She willShyla confirmed_ _You sure?_ The boy replied, not confident

 _I promise_

*

Two days later, Derpina slowly started to come around from her coma, she groaned and put her hand up to her forehead "uggghhh, my head"

"hi…" Shyla replied and jogged back to her side

"wha…? where am I?" Derpina groaned, rubbing her head, "I don't remember bringing passengers along"

"Hun?"

"h… hi… Shy" Derpina groaned

"are you okay?"

"I… don't know. What happened?"

"you got knocked out"

"how?" Derpina asked, weakly trying to reach out to Shyla

"I don't know…" Shyla smiled and reached out to hold Derpina's hand

"where are we?"

"your lake"

"thought so" Derpina smiled weakly, "how long was I out? How's Korra? Lin? Monika? The kids?"

"they are all back"

"we need to get back to Republic City" Derpina tried to sit up but was too weak to be able to

"I'll carry you" Shyla suggested

"it's probably a long way," Derpina reminded her, "I'll need to teleport us there" she smiled and touched Shyla's face

"okay, whatever it takes"

Derpina kissed Shyla, "are you otay, Shyla?"

"yes"

"promise?" Derpina asked her

"I promise" Shyla smiled happily and stroked Derpina's cheek, Derpina smiled back happily, "I love you, Derpina"

"I love you more!" Derpina replied and kissed Shyla's lips happily. "shall we go?" Derpina inquired, through Shyla's lips

"please" on Shyla's request, they reappeared on Air Temple Island. Derpina smiled and Shyla's family ran up to them, Shyla looked around and smiled at them, only to stop and look down quickly because Derpina had passed out again from the exertion of teleporting. she was now only supported by Shyla's arms

"Shy!" Monika cried, her and Lin running up to Shyla and Derpina, "we've all been so worried!"

"I'm okay, really!" Shyla reassured them, before breaking off the hug and holding Derpina in her arm

"what's up with Derpina?" Lin asked

"no idea…"

"hey, Lin. Hey, Monika" Derpina groaned, waking up again

"hey you" Lin smiled down at Derpina

"I don't feel great, Shy, can you take me to lie down somewhere?"

"yea…" Shyla replied, before she picked her up and carried her into the building. Minutes later, Shyla put Derpina down on one of the beds.

"Shy…" Lin muttered, she pulled Shyla out of the room to talk to her,

"what's wrong, mom?"

"she needs hospital, Shy, she needs to be checked out. She's not well, all these fainting fits"

"what would they say?"

"what do you mean, Shy?"

"mom, she has wings, they will think She's an alien"

"they only appear when she wants them, if She's sensible she'll know to keep them hidden" Lin paused and took a deep breath

"mom?" Shyla asked when Lin looked down

"I'm sorry Shy, but we've already contacted the doctors, they're going to come and get her, while She's asleep. By the time she wakes she'll hopefully be back here"

"fine." Shyla growled, "but I'm staying with her!"

"you can't, Shy" Lin groaned, "you need rest"

"I have to"

"I'm sorry Shyla, it's too late. They've taken her to the hospital, they told me to keep you out of the way until they had taken her. I'm sorry"

"fine" Shyla said shortly, when Lin looked at her with a raised eyebrow, added, "she needs it"

"Monika also let slip that she almost attempted suicide, I'm sorry Shyla"

"what? Why?" Shyla gasped, worried

"they asked if she had shown any suicidal tendencies and Monika said yes, probably without thinking" she sighed, "Shy you need rest, She's safe"

"will I see her again?"

"that's up to them" Lin replied

*

A few hours later, a distant explosion erupted, Lin, who had been sitting with Shyla, looked out of the window slightly nervous, but fake smiled at Shyla to try to ease her nerves, "she'll be okay" Lin reassured her

"what is that?" Shyla asked

"She's fine, Shyla," Shyla was about to reply, only to gasp in surprise, a wave of intense fear passed over her, the fear of being trapped overwhelmed her, more fear than she had ever felt before passed through her mind, but she couldn't work out where it came from until she felt intense rage, then she realised, Derpina.

"no! I want to know! NOW!" Shyla screamed in her mother's face

"she is fine!" Lin repeated, "the doctors and… well She's being looked after!"

"I meant the explosion!"

"I don't know!" Lin exclaimed, "no doubt Tenzin is already on his way to see what the explosion was!"

Shyla didn't believe her, she knew with sick certainty that the explosion was Derpina's escape attempt. "it was her!" Shyla exclaimed, before she felt Derpina's emotions again, again the intense fear prevailed but there was also hints of Derpina being in pain and feeling weakness

"Shyla… listen, she's safe!" Lin exclaimed

"what if she isn't!?" Shyla yelled, "I'm afraid!" Shyla whimpered when Derpina panicked because she was no longer able to bend due to a drug a doctor had administered

"She's on a closed ward, Shyla! she's safe!!"

"something's gonna happen!" Shyla yelled, feeling weak because of the drugs Derpina had been injected with

A strange voice echoed through Shyla's head, _get her a bed on the secure psychiatric ward! She's seriously mentally ill and must be contained for her own safety, also alert the psychiatric teams!_ Shyla realised seconds later, after stumbling, that those were the last words Derpina heard before she passed out. Shyla stumbled because she had been massively weakened by the severing of the telepathic connection between herself and Derpina.

"She's in a ward!" Shyla exclaimed weakly from where she had fallen to her knees

"Shyla!" Lin exclaimed and ran forward to her daughter's side. Regardless of the shouting match they had just had, she was still Shyla's mother and only wanted what was best for Shyla, and for Derpina, who she had privately come to think of as her daughter. "She's safe" she repeated, not only to soothe Shyla, but to reassure herself

"no. She's not!" Shyla whimpered, although it was obvious from her face that if she had the energy to still be screaming in her mother's face, that's exactly what she would've been doing, "She's not mentally ill!"

"we're not qualified to make that decision though, Shyla!" Lin pleaded, "they are, She's safe"

"they are going to drug her! They already have!"

"if it keeps her safe, Shy! They don't really allow visitors on the psych wards"

"mom…" Shyla whispered, "it won't do anything, She's not crazy"

"it's too late Shy…" Lin said sadly, "I can't get her out!" she looked away towards Monika's room, "Monika didn't realise they'd do this, she's stayed in her room with the door locked since she let it slip!" Lin sighed, "She's mortified, she realised seconds too late. Tenzin will be back soon and he'll let us know what has happened to Derpina" she paused and put her hand on Shyla's shoulder, only for it to be shrugged off, "Shyla… please see there's nothing that can be done…" Shyla looked up and was extremely surprised to see a tear run down her cheek, "I… I'm sorry Shyla"

"this is unbelievable!" Shyla exclaimed

"I'm sorry, Shy!" Lin knelt down and hugged her daughter, who knelt there, motionless

"Lin" Tenzin walked in, getting her attention, "can we talk?"

"what?" Lin replied

"in private" he said pointedly looking at Shyla

"what is it you can't say here?" Shyla growled, incensed

"it's between me and Lin, Shyla" Tenzin said sharply

"she knows, Tenzin…" Lin said calmly, Shyla began to growl at her father for trying to keep things from her

"you told her?!" Tenzin breathed

"about Derpina?! YES!" Lin yelled

"why Lin?" Tenzin sighed, defeated, "we agreed it would be better if she didn't know!"

"what!?" Shyla cried, still on her knees, "that's stupid!"

"only to protect you, Shy!" Tenzin continued defending his decision, "how did you find out?"

"from my connection"

"damn telepathy!" Tenzin growled, frustrated, "she's been assessed and they have decided she's mentally ill. A lot of people witnessed her funny turn before you and her teleported"

"WHAT!?" Shyla yelled

"when she went weird! Before she collapsed in Republic City while she was healing people. Not that many people remember Flame, the Grandmaster's part in the creation of the Avatar was forgotten by most, only remembered by the avatars and those they told." Tenzin sighed, "me, you, one or two of the older citizens, but, they cannot help release her, the psychiatric system has too much power and nobody remembers her. She's gonna be in there for a while, Shyla, she can't even bend! I saw her briefly, she's tied to the bed, drugged up and has lots of tubes stuck in her. Shyla…" Tenzin said sadly, "She's gone"

"no!" Shyla whimpered, "NO!" she screamed

"I'm sorry Shyla…" Tenzin whispered, he and Lin hugged their daughter tight, "Korra is too far away, she had to go away to the Southern Water Tribe to see her family. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do!" Shyla started to cry, "you can go and see her. I asked and used my position as son of Avatar Aang to be able to push them into granting it!"

"thank you"

"shall we go?" Tenzin gestured out of the window to a waiting bison, Shyla ran out of her room, out of the house and jumped onto the bison, Lin close behind and Tenzin bringing up the rear. Shyla saw Monika standing at her window, looking out at them, her eyes puffy and her face red. Shyla looked away, ashamed. The flight to the hospital had Shyla very agitated and she fidgeted the whole time.

*

When they arrived at the hospital, Shyla jumped off before the bison had even landed and ran in, again closely followed by Lin, Tenzin was slightly confused by Lin's reaction.

"where to?" Shyla growled at her father, who put his arms around her and guided her to the psychiatric ward, Shyla's tears flowing freely.

Tenzin held the door open for his daughter and they walked into a gloomy whitewashed ward with no creature comforts in sight other than eight beds, four of which had sedated patients lying in them, tied up in straitjackets and chained to their bed. Shyla gulped and saw Derpina at the far end, "Shyla… it looks bad" he whispered

"oh spirits… NO!" Shyla exclaimed, incredibly distressed. Like the other occupants, Derpina was restrained to the bed by metal chains that had rubbed sores on her wrists, more straps held her body to the bed, tubes were protruding from her mouth and nose, as well as multiple cannulas in her arms. Derpina also had monitor pads stuck all over her, while she led there in a drug induced coma. Shyla started to shake and cry again, Lin put her arms around Shyla in an effort to help her stand, "She's not crazy" Shyla whispered

"I beg to differ!" a doctor had walked up behind her and made her jump, "she put huge holes in several walls using our medical staff when she woke on the last ward she was on. Plenty of people also said what happened in Republic City." He smiled reassuringly, but to Shyla it looked more like a leer, "I'm sorry, but She's absolutely a complete loon, she's psychotic!"

"no, she is not!" Shyla gasped, enraged, "I demand her release!"

"I'm sorry but I'm the boss, I'm the psychiatrist! I am the one who demands stuff here!" Lin growled, irritated by his self-righteous attitude, "I'm in charge!"

"I'm family!" Shyla growled, "I can sue if I want!"

"you can try!" the self-righteous psychiatrist postured, "I'm the most respected psychiatrist in the world" he boasted, "so what I say goes, I'm afraid!" Shyla had a sudden urge to hold Derpina's hand and when she did so, she felt the raw power building in the entirety of the protector's body, immense amounts of energy poured through Shyla's mind. She stumbled back, overwhelmed by the power surging through her mind when she made physical contact with Derpina. The drug-induced barrier in place in Derpina's mind that Shyla could sense was severing Derpina's bending from her conscious mind was bulging, unable to hold back the raw power of the grandmaster's true abilities. Derpina could easily gain access to her abilities at any time, the barrier in Derpina's mind was already cracked. Shyla groaned in surprise, the moment she stood back and let go of Derpina's hand the power dissipated completely

"Shy?" Lin jumped forward, "are you okay?"

"her power…" Shyla whispered, still overwhelmed by the power she had felt

"she can't do anything!" the psychiatrist laughed, "she lost her bending, we gave her a drug to suppress her bending!"

"but I…" Derpina opened her eyes and winked at Shyla

"she can't do anything! She's powerless, and under my control!"

"I guess not," Shyla whispered, resisting the urge to smile with all her concentration, Tenzin looked over at Derpina, who quickly shut her eyes and pretended to be out cold again

"Shy… what did you feel?" Lin asked with a suspicious grin

"I can't…" Shyla whispered

"what's wrong Shy?" Lin whispered

"her name is Flame…" Shyla winked at the psychiatrist, who looked confused

"did you say… Flame?" a passing patient whispered

"yes!" Shyla exclaimed

"seems like it's my lucky day!" he exclaimed, laughing with glee, "you mean THE Flame?"

"I don't know what you mean" Shyla replied, amusing the patient with ginger hair greatly

"THE Flame, that one that disappeared, the firebender?"

"yes!"

"who the hell is Flame?" the psychiatrist asked, confused

"the protector of the Avatar cycle!" Shyla piped up, much to the surprise of the psychiatrist

"another one for me to admit then!" the psychiatrist laughed happily, "there is no protector of the Avatar cycle!"

"I'm not lying…" Shyla smiled innocently, "ask Korra, the Avatar!"

The psychiatrist stopped in shock, he had just moved to try to inject Shyla with a cocktail of drugs when he heard an ominous and powerful voice echo through his mind, _you so much as touch my Shyla and you WILL die!!!_ Shyla smirked, having heard the proclamation too.

"you're in deep dog shit now, psych!" the patient looked at the psychiatrist with glee, "run. RUN!" he yelled, "and don't stop running until you reach the other side of the Earth Kingdom! RUN!"

"I warned you… you're about to die!" Derpina growled from behind the psychiatrist, Shyla laughed, amused and a white glow started from behind the psychiatrist. "I am FLAME!!!!" the voice roared, "Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Avatar Cycle!!"

"you're fucked…" Shyla grinned

The psychiatrist slowly turned to see what the others were staring at, and he saw Derpina had effortlessly melted her way through all the straps and chains holding her down, her wrists had healed and she was sat upon the bed, having melted all the tubes and wires off of her. "b… but that's not possible…" the psychiatrist spluttered, utterly dumbfounded how little effect his cocktail of drugs had had on the Grandmaster. He had personally developed it and it had always worked, until it was injected into Derpina

The ginger-haired patient laughed and collected all his things, preparing to leave the ward, "let's go" he yelled, "before she kills us all"

"oh no, I'm only interested in this fucker" Derpina pointed at the psychiatrist, "who tried to hurt the girl I love! But escape anyway, it'd be better than being locked up in this dreary place tied to a bed" Derpina turned to Shyla, "are you otay?"

"I'm fine, Derpina" Shyla said, relieved to see Derpina on her feet, "that was amazing!"

The psychiatrist was frozen with fear when Derpina's wings appeared and her eyes changed. Derpina raised her hand and much to everyone's surprise, the fireball that was growing in her hand was black. Shyla, Tenzin and Lin had never seen bending like this before. they all stared at Derpina, watching in amazement while her true abilities were being exposed. "wow!" Shyla exclaimed when the black fireball, which had grown to over a foot in size, shrunk to a size that was only just visible, the tiniest portion of the black fireball had transferred onto Derpina's hand and her entire body caught fire, the flames as pitch black as the ones she held in her hands.

Derpina lowered her left hand to her side, the black fireball in the dead centre of her right hand, she looked the psychiatrist in the eyes and roared, "I AM FLAME!!!!" she lunged towards the psychiatrist, who, even if he wasn't frozen to the spot in fear, wouldn't have been able to get out of the way of Derpina who grabbed him around the neck, looked up at the ceiling and took off without even flapping her wings, nor did any jets of fire shoot out of her feet. She was floating, suspended in the sky, Shyla thought it could possibly be through telekinesis, or the black fire itself although Shyla was unable to determine which it was. Derpina flew through the ceiling of the ward, the floors above her and the roof of the hospital as if they didn't even exist. Derpina left a trail of carnage behind her throughout the hospital, and even though nobody was harmed, the damage left behind her was clearly in the region of millions of yuans. Derpina flew high over Republic City and threw the screaming psychiatrist with all her might before she looked down and smiled at Shyla whogave Derpina a thumbs up and Derpina lobbed the fireball in the direction of the psychiatrist, the instant it touched him, a massive explosion erupted, far more massive than even the explosion caused when Derpina had landed on her head. the entire Earth Kingdom felt the explosion reverberate in the ground, people as far away as the fire nation heard the explosion and the flash of light from the explosion could be seen on the far side of the planet as well as both poles.

"wow…" Shyla whispered once again. Derpina gently lowered herself to the ground, just as people came out of their houses to see what had caused the massive soundwave, earthquake-like tremor and the massive flash of light

"I missed you Shyla!" Derpina called, her eyes changed back, the energy and power she was wielding dissipated and she landed softly. She ran forward and before Shyla could smile she was in Derpina's tight hug.

Shyla embraced the girl she loved and whispered "it's okay, I'm here" Derpina grinned, "I missed you" Shyla continued

"I love you so much Shy!" Derpina exclaimed, exhilarated to be with her once again. Derpina looked over her shoulder at the explosion, which was still happening as if it was a moment frozen in time, before smiling at Shyla, "yea… don't piss me off" she said seriously and they both laughed, finally reunited

"stupid psychs!" Shyla exclaimed, kissing Derpina

"I love you Shy!" Derpina said, again muffled because she was talking through her partner's lips, "thank you"

"for what?"

"for coming back for me" Derpina smiled

"I always will" Shyla swore

"let's go home" Derpina suggested, looking over at Tenzin and Lin, who were still staring at Derpina with their mouths hanging open

"uhhh hi?" Shyla waved at her parents

"hey! Tenzin! Hey! Lin!"

"wasn't that amazing?"

"oh spirits!" Lin sighed

"what the fuck are you!?" Tenzin yelled, he looked at Lin and said "wow" in unison with her, much to Shyla's amusement. Derpina smiled at Shyla's amusement and ran in, scooped them all up and hugged them

"aww" Shyla blushed and smiled, Shyla and Derpina kissed each other


	10. Derpina's Darkest Secret

"shall we go home?" Derpina asked, "baby?" she stroked Shyla's cheek

"please" Shyla smiled

"you two take the bison, I'm flying with my baby girl, Shyla." Derpina grinned at them, "ready, babe?"

"spirits yea!" Shyla exclaimed. Derpina grinned, flapped her wings once and they were flying at several hundred feet "WOOOOO!!" Shyla yelled

"having fun, baby?" Derpina asked, "my beautiful Shyla?"

"it's always fun with you, Derpina!"

Suddenly Derpina smiled and retracted her wings, huge jets of fire shoot out of her hands and feet, which propelled them both along at incredible speeds which caused Shyla to laugh like a kid, Derpina giggled, "this is amazing!!" Shyla exclaimed. Derpina flew low, only a foot above the water. Shyla reached out and touched it, it sprayed in Shyla's face and she laughed.

"please keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle, we're going faster!"

"okay!" Shyla pulled her hand in, the jets turned blue and Derpina shot forward, "whoaaaaaa!!" she exclaimed

"faster?"

"yes!" Shyla yelled and the jets of fire changed slowly to a pure white, "Amazing." A few more minutes of flying later and they were shooting over the North Pole. "it's the North Pole!" Shyla sighed

"yep"

"it's great!" Shyla gasped

"a bit nippy though…" Derpina shivered

"it's the North Pole…"

"shall we go?" Derpina asked, shivering

"sure…"

"home? Or is there anywhere else you really want to see?" Derpina asked

"home…"

"otay, Shy" Derpina nodded, took off and flew back home. She landed gently inside their room, before she lowered Shyla gently onto the bed. Shyla gently pulled Derpina down with her and Derpina giggled, both with surprise and happiness, Shyla laughed at having caught Derpina by surprise.

Derpina smiled, pulling the thick blankets over them both and pulling Shyla closer, "comfy? Baby Shy?"

"very comfy" Shyla smiled, being kissed by Derpina once again

"I'm cold" Derpina shivered

"but you're a firebender" Shyla whispered, stunned

"you really want me to set fire to the bed?" Derpina gasped

"no!" Shyla laughed, "please don't"

"I'd rather snuggle with you though" Derpina whispered

"me too!" Shyla agreed

Derpina pulled Shyla close and kissed her lips romantically, "I love you Shyla"

"I love you more" Shyla challenged

"that would be impossible" Derpina grinned, Shyla laughed happily and Derpina kissed her neck, Shyla closed her eyes and smiled, "you like that?"

"very much" Shyla breathed

Derpina put her arms around Shyla from behind and gently caressed her her. Shyla looked down and, unnoticed by Derpina, noticed faint straight and wide lines on Derpina's wrists, arms and legs. "I love you Shyla" Derpina whispered

"I love you…" Shyla's voice was soft, filled with concern for her partner

"Shy?" Derpina asked, looking at Shyla, a mirror image of Shyla's concern was visible in Derpina's eyes

"what?"

"what's wrong babe? I love you, are you otay?" she asked

Shyla, who had never self-harmed but had thought about it at great length and having come so close, sighed "your arms…" she whispered sadly

"what about them?" Derpina asked, feigning confusion

"the scars…"

Derpina looked at her, closed her eyes and concentrated for a fraction of a second, "what scars?" Derpina asked, Shyla looked down again and saw that the scars had vanished. "I'm too relaxed" Derpina muttered

"nothing…" Shyla whispered and Derpina looked lonely again, "what?" Shyla whispered, placing her hand on top Derpina's

"Shy…" Derpina looked in her eyes, "I love you" she whispered before a single tear ran down her face

"what's wrong…" Shyla whispered, wiping Derpina's cheek

"I… killed my whole village…" Derpina sighed. her scars became fully visible for the first time, and Shyla gasped. "I was alone, in so much pain. I wondered the spirit wilds for maybe three years, I found an old blade… and I didn't know what else to do so I made the first cut…" Derpina closed her eyes, "I was the first ever natural firebender, born with the power, instead of being given it by the lion turtles" she shook her head, "so I had nowhere to go." Shyla closed her eyes in sadness, before Derpina continued, "I hid the scars. I found a village when I was about fifteen, someone took me in, looked after me, but, they never saw what I had done to myself because I hid them" she looked down sadly, she still regretted hiding the scars from the person who had took her in after she had lost everything, "once Raava had given me my abilities it became easier to hide them. When I am relaxed, that's when they may become visible"

"I'm sorry…" Shyla muttered sadly

"it's otay, Shyla…" Derpina smiled at her, "I love you and trust you beyond anyone else, that's why I'm telling you"

Shyla smiled for the first time since Derpina started her story, "I love you" she sighed

"I'm sorry…" Derpina smiled weakly and started to cry

"it's okay" Shyla whispered, holding Derpina close in a tight embrace

"it's not!" Derpina exclaimed, "I shouldn't have told you. It's in the past, I don't want you to worry, I'm fine"

"really?"

"are you really fine?"

Derpina looked at Shyla, confident, "I… am…" her confidence waivered, "not." She concluded and paused, "I haven't been fine since I was a young child" she admitted, "so the short answer to your question is… no. I'm not fine" she faltered and burst into tears again

"oh baby…" Shyla sighed, "it's okay, I got you"

"I even begged Raava to remove the memories but she refused!" Derpina sobbed, more tears ran down her face the whole while, "baby don't ever leave me" she begged

"I won't, baby. I won't" Shyla promised.

*

Lin poked her head around the door to the room and having heard none of the conversation, saw both Shyla and Derpina led in bed together, both crying together, and Shyla soothing a distraught Derpina. Lin smiled quietly to herself, seeing that Shyla and Derpina looked after each other, which, even though she was tough on Shyla as she was growing up, was all she wanted, for her daughter to be happy, healthy and safe. Shyla looked up and nodded when she saw Lin, who had put a finger to her lips. "keep her safe" Lin mouthed, "she needs someone to be there for her, she's been alone for far too long." Shyla smiled and Lin left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her, happy that her mother approved of the relationship

Derpina looked up, and to Shyla's surprise, smiled through her tears, "but now I have you… my Shyla, the girl I love!"

"of course you do, forever" Shyla smiled

"I love you!" Derpina exclaimed and stroked her cheek, "kiss me?" Shyla nodded and kissed Derpina deeply, she giggled deeply and wriggled when Shyla tickled her happily. Shyla didn't stop tickling Derpina even though she was rolling around trying to escape Shyla's merciless tickle attack.

Once Derpina had become happier, Shyla whispered "I got you now" and stopped her merciless tickling

Derpina looked deep into Shyla's eyes, "now you tell me what's bothering you"

"nothing" Shyla denied

"you can trust me completely, Shy" Derpina encouraged

"always?"

"always and forever, my baby," Shyla grinned but was not forthcoming, "tell me babe, come on, open up." Derpina encouraged, "Shyla you need to talk to someone"

"what?" Shyla feigned ignorance

"tell me everything. Shyla, I know you've been in a bad place before"

"I almost cut" Shyla sighed

"why?" Derpina asked sadly, certain she would have to kill someone when Shyla replied

"my ex" Shyla acknowledged

"the bastard I slaughtered?" Derpina growled

"yea…"

"what did he do to you?!" Derpina growled, "babe?"

"strangled me" Shyla admitted, putting her hands up to her throat

"if he wasn't already dead…" Derpina growled, her eyes flashing dangerously, "I'd kill him all over again" she snarled

"it's okay…" Shyla whispered, "I'm safe"

"you are" Derpina growled, nodding fiercely, "because you have me"

"I know…" Shyla whispered, and Derpina smiled. "I love you…" she continued

"I love you more…"

"nahhh" Shyla murmured, dismissing Derpina's claim

"yea!" Derpina grinned

"nooo… how?" Shyla asked, intrigued how anyone could love her

"because I am going to do this" Derpina smiled and picked her up, "ready?" Derpina asked, before placing a finger on her forehead

"For what?" Shyla said, bemused

"for this…" Derpina grinned and Shyla felt a huge wave of intense energy poured through her mind. "I've opened your mind," Derpina explained, "made the telepathic link permanent, and so you can start it" Derpina closed her eyes, "I'm also going to give you all my memories, brace yourself" Derpina advised her, she did so and she saw and felt all of Derpina's pain, self-hatred, horror of what she had done and loneliness pour through her mind. Shyla breathed in, trying to ground herself, but she was quickly swept away in the telepathic link again when she saw and felt Derpina's endlessly expanding happiness since Derpina had met her. Shyla then felt like something had changed in her mind, the barrier that separated her conscious mind from bending abilities and that she had to breach whenever she wanted to use her bending became weaker and more strained, even though the barrier was still intact she could sense that the energy on the other side had intensified to a level she had only felt previously when she touched Derpina in the psychiatric ward even though it wasn't nearly as overwhelming as that experience. "You can also draw on my energy reserves should you ever want or need to," Derpina explained, "the energy you feel is mine"

"wow…" Shyla gasped

"now, Shy…" Derpina continued, "answer this question honestly, do you really love me?" she asked, "I mean completely and without doubt"

"I picked you, didn't I?" Shyla replied

"Shyla Beifong." Derpina declared, "once this thing that I've been summoned here for is over, I can feel it coming, it's only a few months away now, do you want to spend forever with me? With your lover, a girl called Flame?"

"you know how infinity never ends? I promise that" Shyla vowed

"Shyla Beifong, will you marry me?" Derpina whispered

Shyla gasped and teared up, she nodded quickly, "you will?" Derpina asked

"yes"

Derpina smiled and teared up, "I love you, Shy!" she cried happily

"I love you" she replied, hugging Derpina

Derpina kissed Shyla's lips, "you're my beautiful girl, Shyla" Derpina smiled, her breath having been taken away by the beautiful young woman with brown hair lying beside her

"your fiancé" Shyla grinned, Derpina smiled back, "I'm so happy!" Shyla yelled, unconcerned with anything other than the darker skinned woman led beside her. Shyla wondered if she had been tanned by her millennia in that star, or if her skin naturally that colour

Outside people started yelling, bursting Shyla's little bubble of contentment. "wait what's that?!" Shyla exclaimed, surprised

"I recognise the voices," Derpina replied, worried, "its Lin, Tenzin and… Korra?" Derpina paused, "but what's she doing back here?!"

"let's go see" Shyla encouraged

"hold on tight! We're about to go the quick way!" she exclaimed, before throwing herself and Shyla out of the window, they landed softly next to the three irate people. Korra was in a rage because Tenzin had failed to mention that Monika had caused Derpina to be locked up, Tenzin was yelling back that it wasn't his fault that Derpina had been locked up and that he had done all he could to help her, Lin was yelling at Tenzin trying to protect Monika who had made an honest mistake. Lin was standing stubbornly between Korra and the house, staring down the Avatar. "hi…" Derpina said, moving in between the three people

"you can't just lock up the protector!!!" Korra roared

"Monika slipped up!" Lin shrieked back

"she did escape!" Tenzin tried to yell over the other two, using airbending to enhance the volume of his voice, "She's right there!" he pointed at Derpina and Shyla

"Flame! Thank the spirits!" Korra sighed

"I'm otay Korra, I'm otay!" Derpina smiled, trying to calm the situation down, "the same can't be said for the psychiatrist in charge of the psychiatric unit though!" she grinned, "you probably saw the explosion?" Derpina inquired, realising that's probably why Korra was back in the city

*

"MONIKA!!!!!!!" Korra screamed, having knocked Lin out of the way with waterbending and stormed into the house, "you will pay!!" she yelled. Lin stood there in a daze while Korra stormed up the stairs and kicking each door open as she got to it, on the hunt for Monika, "where is she?!" Korra roared

"Shy" Derpina began, "I'll try to calm Korra down, you stay with Lin," Derpina jumped up back into the building, "KORRA!!!" she bellowed, "listen to me!" trying to get her attention from the rage she was in.

Shyla cuddled and soothed Lin, who was scared for her partner's life, while Korra rampaged through the house on Air Temple Island in her rage, "WHY?!" Korra yelled back

"because, yes otay, Monika made a mistake, she let slip something she shouldn't have and its otay that you're trying to protect me, but aren't you overreacting, just a little?" Derpina yelled, "Monika isn't even a bender!" she exclaimed, knowing with sick certainty that if she didn't stop Korra, she would kill the defenceless Monika. Korra growled in irritation and knocked Derpina flying with a jet of water, she flew out of a nearby window only to be halted in mid-air when her wings erupted and steadied her descent. Korra found the room that Monika was hiding in, and she immediately went into the Avatar state in her rage which caused the house to shake. "oh shit…" Derpina muttered, then she threw a fireball through the window that was hot enough to surprise Korra who jumped. "to get to Monika you'll have to knock me to the floor first!" Derpina declared and threw another fireball at her. Korra breathed fire and turned to Derpina, her eyes glowing. "now that's more like it!!" Derpina taunted, dodging the fire, "to catch me you'll have to leave that house!" she continued taunting Korra while ignoring Tenzin's looks of annoyance at the noise and commotion but smiled encouragingly at a petrified Lin. Seconds later, Korra ran out, _make yourself useful Tenzin, get Monika to safety!_ Derpina instructed him telepathically, "all that training, Korra, has it made you forget your instincts?" Derpina taunted, the smile on her face as much a taunt as her words

"of course not!!" Korra roared, rushing at Derpina

"then stop trying to hit me and actually hit me!" Derpina growled when Korra grabbed her and threw another jet of fire at Derpina. The jet of fire merely bent around Derpina, Korra's triumphant laugh subsided when Derpina's wings absorbed the fire and she threw a fireball at Korra. the fireball made contact even though Korra had tried to block it and it knocked Korra back and unconscious in the process. "I'm sorry, Korra" Derpina sighed, "it was the only way to stop you." she watched Tenzin carry Monika, who was terrified, away from the building in the opposite direction and disappeared into the distance before she sat next to Korra

"Derpina…" Shyla called, while she ran up to Derpina

"I'm otay, Shy. I'm otay" Derpina reassured her, "so's she, she's only unconscious, the Avatar Spirit is in no danger" Shyla nodded and Derpina hugged her tight, she rested her head on Derpina's shoulder and Derpina kissed her lips

"mom… mama" Shyla whispered

"they're gonna be otay"

"no. I need to tell them!"

"tell them?

"we're getting married, aren't we?" Shyla exclaimed

"yea!"

"I need to tell them I'm getting married then!" she ran off after Tenzin, Monika and Lin with Derpina close behind. Korra groaned and slowly woke up to find Mako and Bolin by her side.

Within minutes, Shyla found her parents, "mom, mama… I'm engaged" she panted and rushed

"Wha… to whom?" Monika gasped, surprised, while Lin simply nodded, having been expecting it to eventually come out

"to Derpina…" Shyla elaborated as if it was the most obvious thing ever

Monika smiled then looked down guiltily, "I… I'm sorry about what happened in the hospital, Shyla" Lin continued to grin at Shyla happily

"why?" Shyla asked Monika, "oh mom…" she smiled at Lin and laughed

"for telling them that she almost attempted suicide, for causing them to lock her up" Monika explained

"I'm happy for you, Shyla" Lin grinned

"it's okay, mama, and thanks mom. Me, the protector's wife" she whispered. Derpina snuck up behind her and kissed her cheek, Shyla giggled and Lin laughed. Shyla huffed when she saw that Korra had come to and that Tenzin had sat next to her. Derpina kissed her cheek and two acolytes brought the babies to Shyla, she smiled and stroked their heads happily.

The acolytes gave Shyla two of the babies and Derpina the other two, "hey, you four" Derpina grinned and the babies looked up at her with grins on their faces, she then bounced the two she was holding gently

"my kids" Shyla sighed, having closed her eyes and held them close. Tenzin and Korra walked up and both smiled when they saw the couple with the babies. "oh hi…" Shyla whispered, slightly coldly

"hey Korra, hey Tenzin" Derpina said, before she cooed at the babies, and kissed Shyla

"guess what guys," Shyla grinned, "I'm getting married!!" Korra grinned happy for Derpina and Shyla while Tenzin looked confused, "what?" Shyla looked at him

"to whom?" Tenzin questioned

"DERPINA!" Korra, Lin and Monika all yelled, before they sighed and shook their heads

Shyla smiled at Derpina, "I love you Shy, my fiancé." Tenzin stopped, stared and gagged

"what?" Derpina growled, "you have a problem with it?" lightning was crackling around her fingers in a small but no doubt deadly show of the power she could wield "what? No, no" he said quickly

"Shyla is my girl… she was my girlfriend, she is now my fiancé. As soon as this protector shit is over, we ARE getting married" Derpina declared and grinned at Shyla

"so honestly, deal with it!" Shyla growled

"I love you, Shy" Derpina grinned, she kissed Shyla then each of the babies in turn

"no more tragedies for now" Shyla smiled, snuggling into Derpina

"agreed" Derpina smiled and bounced the babies on her knees

"wheeeee!!" Shyla breathed, spinning the two babies she was holding around her

"shall we fly?" Derpina's wings appeared

"with the kids?" Shyla asked, unsure

"yes!" Derpina exclaimed

"okay…" Shyla agreed, "let's be careful"

"indeed" Derpina nodded, Shyla held on to Derpina tightly and the babies she was holding cooed to the babies that Derpina was holding, Derpina was also holding on to Shyla tighter. "let's fly!" Derpina exclaimed, her wings appeared and they took off. "wheeee!!" Derpina smiled

*

"whoa…!" Shyla giggled, "yay!!" The babies smiled as the air blew across their faces, "awww, look at them!" Shyla exclaimed, "they love it!"

The babies giggled when Derpina flew faster, "where do you wanna fly to, Shy?"

"somewhere they can play" Shyla grinned

"one of the lakes!" Derpina suggested

"sounds good…" Shyla agreed and they flew to Derpina's private retreat. "yay!" Shyla smiled as they landed. "ready babies?" Shyla grinned and they replied by making baby noises. Shyla laughed and put the two she was carrying gently in the sand, Derpina took the other two and lowered them into the water and swam with them. Shyla sat basking in the sunlight, making sandcastles with the babies who weren't helping their mother but were quite content in throwing sand around

"come swimming with us!!" Derpina called to Shyla

"okay!" she called back, picked the babies up and jumped in with them. Derpina grinned and laughed when Shyla splashed her and the babies giggled, "I got mama!" Shyla cried

Derpina paused for a second, "what did you just call me?" she smiled widely

"their mama!" Shyla exclaimed, causing Derpina to grin even wider than before. Shyla grinned and hugged her, the babies smiled and Shyla cooed at them, "awww" she grinned

"are you otay, Shy?"

"yes! Just happy!"

"I love you" Derpina grinned and kissed the babies, "I'm their mama"

"are you okay with that?"

"of course I am!" Derpina grinned

"thank you!" Shyla smiled

"I wanna be the babies' mama!" Derpina admitted, and they both smiled

"aww you're cute when you do that!" Shyla exclaimed, Derpina grinned happily and Shyla poked her. Derpina retaliated by splashing her, the babies giggled

"hey!" Shyla exclaimed but laughed, the babies laughed again. "aww let's splash mama!" Shyla suggested while grinning evilly, the babies turned and splashed her, "hey!" Shyla called out, laughing, "traitors!" she giggled and reached out to tickle them, causing them to giggle more.

"go my babies!!" Derpina encouraged and kissed them. The babies tried to swim off and Derpina let them go, letting them swim but Derpina stayed close behind them in order to keep them safe. Shyla opened her arms for them to swim into them

"yay! They did it!" Shyla yelled

"babies do have a natural skill at swimming" Derpina laughed

"even before they walked" Shyla said, awestruck. The babies smiled and giggled up at their new mama when she held them close, "Aww I wish I had a camera" Shyla sighed

"me too, Shy" Derpina smiled, she threw one of the babies gently into the water near Shyla, she giggled and made baby noises before she swam to Shyla

"hi!" Shyla exclaimed happily, she picked the baby girl up and the baby giggled again. Derpina then threw the other babies into the water gently from about an inch above the water, enabling them to swim to Shyla. "yay! That's my babies!" Shyla exclaimed, wrapping her arms around them. The babies grinned up at their mother

"Shy…" Derpina began, getting her attention immediately, "we met while you were pregnant, didn't we?" Shyla looked at Derpina, surprised, "our telepathic bond formed while you were pregnant with the babies?"

"I guess… why?" Shyla asked

"then they may be firebenders" Derpina said

"what?! How?" Shyla gasped

"because of the telepathic link, you'd expect them to be earthbenders, right?"

"yes"

"the telepathic link may have allowed for the transference of some of my abilities, namely firebending, to your babies." Derpina explained, "they may be firebenders"

"that would be… amazing" Shyla admitted

"really?"

"how come?"

"I want them to be like you, Derpina…" Derpina blushed, "I really do"

"w… why babe?" Derpina blushed

"because you're amazing…"

Derpina blushed a deep red and kissed the girl she loved, "what age do bending powers appear?" she asked, "when I was young I was the first natural benders and I never met another one"

"about five years of age, that's when mine came…" Shyla stated

"gotta long time to wait then…"

"sorry…"

Suddenly one of the girls sneezed and an almost unsubstantial amount of fire shot out of her nose, too small for Shyla to notice but to Derpina's perception of heat it was a substantial source, "Shy, give her here!" Derpina exclaimed suddenly

"okay…" Shyla muttered, surprised and handed her over, seconds after Derpina took her, she sneezed again, this time Shyla saw the slightly larger jet of fire that shot out of the baby's nose, "whoa…!" Shyla exclaimed

"She's a firebender" Derpina smiled

"just like you" Shyla whispered, making Derpina smile, "She's your daughter!" Shyla whispered, and Derpina smiled happily

Shyla giggled, "She's probably not the only one…" Derpina whispered

"I bet…"

"I could find out for you?" Derpina asked

"how…?"

"the same way I found out that there was four of them" Derpina smiled and placed her hand on their foreheads one at a time

"what are you doing?" Shyla asked her

Derpina smiled, and pointed at the firebender girl, "she's a firebender," and the other girl, "she seems to be a non-bender" Derpina stated, before she pointed at the biggest boy, "he's an earthbender…" Derpina looked at the smallest, weakest baby, a baby boy, put her hand on his head, and stopped, pondering for a minute, "I… can't tell… he's… different" she stuttered

"different, how?" Shyla wondered

"he's both…" Derpina replied

"what?"

"he is a firebender, but he is also an earthbender"

"how is that possible?!" Shyla exclaimed

"I… don't know…" Derpina admitted, "but there's never been a telepathic link between me and anyone else before, it must've been that…"

"wow…"

"we are unique, our relationship is unique, Shy"

"I hate being average anyway" Shyla smiled

"you're not average, you're far beyond that"

"good" Shyla smiled

"I chose you, didn't I? Flame, the Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Avatar Cycle chose you"

"I'm special…" Shyla blushed but grinned, and leant in closer to Derpina

"the babies are going to need watching, all the time, because their bending has already started appearing. The girl, she is already one of the most powerful firebenders I've ever met, she might even be able to use blue fire, like me. the littlest baby, the boy, his future depends on the decisions he makes, he could either become the most powerful firebender with average earthbending, or vice versa"

"what about the other baby?"

"he's probably average, that's most likely why his bending hasn't appeared yet"

"but they will be great!" Shyla exclaimed

"they must be kept safe" Derpina reiterated

"I'll do whatever it takes" Shyla growled

"the littlest baby is in the most danger, if the Equalists find out he's both a firebender and an earthbender…"

"they'll take it from him" Shyla concluded

"they might, or they might try to hurt him for being a dual bender"

"they will" Shyla whispered sadly

"can Monika look after them?" Derpina asked, "I mean Tenzin is busy with Korra, Lin is busy being Chief of Police, and we're busy saving the world from Equalists, so can Monika look after them?"

"I guess…" Shyla said reluctantly, wanting to spend time with her babies herself

"if its otay with you…" Derpina said, gently touching Shyla's cheek, "I would look after them myself, but I don't want to take them on to the front line fighting the Equalists"

"okay" Shyla nodded

"I love you, Shyla "I love you too"

"I love you, I love the babies" "I love you all "Shyla, you're my family. You're all my family" Shyla smiled when Derpina kissed her, the smallest baby fell asleep in Derpina's arms, "he must be exhausted" Derpina whispered

"I bet he is…" Shyla smiled, and touched her baby's cheek gently

"it's not easy being the smallest Shy"

"I know, I'm short…"

"you're beautiful" Derpina said quickly and kindly

"I love you"

"Shyla, I need to look after the smallest carefully, we need to look after him"

"okay"

"Shyla… babies that small in my day never used to survive" "WHAT?!" Shyla gasped

"I'm sorry Shyla… babies more than a few days early, or that small, rarely made it to a year old. I'm certain that the care that can be provided if necessary these days can stop anything bad happening, but that's partly why I want to watch over him myself, that and I never used to help with babies"

"thank you"

"I love the babies Shyla"

"I know"

Derpina smiled at Shyla, and picked the smallest baby up, rested him on her chest and wrapped her arms around him to keep him warm, "almost time to go home Shy" she whispered

"let's go then"

"shhhh!" Derpina hissed, looking down at the little bundle asleep on her chest before she looked up and watched the other three babies swim around in the lake

"guys!" Shyla called, standing and getting the babies' attention, "time to go home" she cooed, the babies swam over to her, she scooped them out of the water and handed one of the girls to Derpina.

*

Derpina then teleported them all home to Air Temple Island, "home sweet home" Shyla breathed

"it's not as nice as that place in the mountains" Derpina smiled, "with the swimming pool"

"it's home" Shyla replied

"I can't argue there…" Shyla agreed, "it's definitely better than the star"

"amen…"

Derpina ran into their bedroom and jumped on to a bed. "A BED!!" she yelled, closely followed by Shyla who looked curiously at her exclamation, "I didn't get a bed in that star!" Derpina explained, before she led the babies down on the bed and curled around them

"aww a camera…" Shyla whispered, grabbing it and using it to take a picture of them led on the bed, Derpina grinned up at her nervously, not having had her picture taken before. Shyla laughed at Derpina's grin and the babies slowly fell asleep, comforted by Derpina's breathing and the warmth from her body. Shyla smiled at the scene and Derpina sung leaves from the vine to them quietly.

Suddenly a loud explosion from outside rocked the house, "oh no what was that?!" Shyla exclaimed

Derpina looked up, disturbed by the babies' crying. she looked out of the window, "Korra… getting pissed off with her airbending, again…"

"shit" Shyla growled, irritated, "let me go solve this"

"be careful"

"okay" Shyla walked outside, only to scream and recoil when Korra burnt her with firebending, Shyla fell to the floor screaming and holding her arm

"KORRA!!!" Derpina roared, she blasted out half of the wall between her and Shyla with a single fireball. Shyla winced at the burn, holding her arm to protect it from further damage. Korra threw a jet of fire at Shyla who was lying defenceless on the floor. Shyla screamed again while her body was being subjected to the intense heat, then, seconds later it ceased. Korra growled in irritation and threw a large and powerful fireball at Shyla's back before something smashed into her and prevented the fireball from turning into a jet of fire. Korra flew through the air, yelping in surprise. Shyla passed out from shock, while Derpina shot white fireballs in Korra's direction. The white fire caused massive damage to anything that they hit, unfortunately for Korra, she got struck by several. Korra flew through the air to the other end of the island and smashed down on the grass. Derpina saw that Shyla was still unconscious due to her injuries and Tenzin ran away from Derpina in fear, "KORRA!!!" Derpina bellowed again and conjured a massive black fireball before she landed right next to Korra who was still unable to get up. The fireball disappeared before it came into contact with Korra, though the fear was evident in Korra's eyes, "I can't kill the Avatar" Derpina concluded and turned her back on the wounded young Avatar who slipped into unconsciousness

"wake up!" Lin screamed as she ran to her daughter's unconscious form, "please wake up!!" Derpina landed beside Lin, badly burned. "Derpina!" Lin exclaimed, anguished, "not you too!"

"damn avatars!" Derpina exclaimed angrily, "who thought it was a good idea to give someone that much power!" Derpina dragged herself over to Shyla, "I can't heal… I'm too badly hurt right now…" she wheezed, and winced at the tears that ran down her face

"I'll get a healer" Lin whispered

"Korra needs medical attention too…" Derpina breathed, and grimaced when she touched Shyla's burned face gently. Shyla quickly became feverish from her injuries and Derpina picked her up and rocked her gently, "oh, and Lin?" she added

"yes?"

"the burns Korra has, t… they're white fire burns, healing won't work on them. I… I'm too weak to heal right now" Derpina wheezed, struggling to hold her head up

"what can be done?"

"nothing." Derpina admitted quietly, "it's unlikely they'll heal fully, and certainly not without my help… but I can't. I'm not strong enough. She's quite quick that Korra" Derpina laughed

"whatever" Lin growled

"I protected your daughter, Lin" Derpina groaned, hurt that Lin thought it was her fault, "I saved her. I need to try to heal her…" Derpina whispered. She placed her hands on Shyla's burns but passed out when she tried to heal the burns and was caught by Lin. Derpina led there unconscious, supported by Lin. "fuck!" Lin yelled then sighed

*

Ten minutes after Derpina collapsed, her body glowed blue, minutes later the healers arrived but the blue glow surrounding Derpina had disappeared, Lin saw the blue glow and shook her head in amazement

"what happened?" a healer asked, "we saw the Water Tribe girl lying on the grass a few hundred feet back that way" she said, gesturing over her shoulder in the direction Korra had been thrown, "She's very seriously burned"

"the firebender" Lin raised Derpina's head slightly, indicating it was her she was talking about, "was protecting my daughter" she looked over at Shyla and closed her eyes, "from that woman, and I think she went a little overboard as they both care about each other a great deal" Lin admitted but refrained from naming Derpina in case the healers knew about her escape from the hospital

Tenzin walked up timidly, but sped up when he saw that Derpina was out cold, "there was a fight. Between the Avatar, who had got angry and hurt someone deliberately and that person's fiancé. The fiancé blasted the Avatar with a powerful fireball, knocking her out, while she got burned by the Avatar's firebending"

"so, she saved her or…?"

"the firebender saved her fiancé's life" Lin explained, "but knocked the Avatar out while doing it"

"Korra still has trouble with airbending," Tenzin added, "it gets her angry"

"I see" the healer pondered

Derpina groaned while the healers healed her, coming around. "what's going on?" Derpina groaned, still in considerable pain

Another healer ran up to the other healer, his superior, "we can't heal the girl's wounds!" the healer spluttered, "I don't think they are life-threatening, but they are serious" he spluttered, "we can't help her!" the healer looked around and looked scared, suspicious of the girl's identity as the Avatar but not entirely sure

"oh" Lin sighed, she was not entirely surprised at the news

Derpina sat up and looked over at Shyla, she quietly placed her hands on Shyla's stomach, but before she could began healing her, several healers noticed, "what are you doing?" one of the healers accused, "she needs hospital" Shyla remained unconscious but was fighting to wake up

"she needs me!" Derpina growled

The healers pushed Derpina out of the way and continued to heal her injuries, although they healed most of the injuries but not some of them. "I don't understand it…" the lead healer whispered, "it's just like the Avatar's injuries, but worse!"

When Shyla's heart slowly stopped, Derpina shoved the healers out of the way and placed her hands on Shyla's chest. "black fire…" Derpina muttered, loud enough for Lin to hear, "how did Korra use black fire?!"

Shyla gasped, her heart had restarted but her eyes became wide and panicky, disorientation had set in and Shyla was scared. Lin held her, "I got you baby" Lin whispered

"the telepathic link!" Derpina exclaimed, "end it!" she muttered to herself and, closing her eyes for a second, she did so. Derpina ended the telepathic link with Korra permanently. "Shy…" Derpina whispered, moving towards her, "I'm here"

"Derpina…" Shyla muttered, disorientated, "Derpina!" she exclaimed when she saw her, Shyla gripped Derpina's shirt tightly

"I'm here baby, I'm here!!" Derpina exclaimed quietly, picking Shyla up and rocking her gently

"I was dead…" Shyla groaned weakly

"no, you weren't baby…" Derpina smiled, "you weren't" she held Shyla closer

"I felt like it…" she sighed, before she turned to look at Lin, who had knelt down on her other side and grasped her hand, "the kids…" she inquired

"they're otay Shy, they're otay" Derpina reassured her, "Monika went to them when I blasted half the walls out" Derpina sighed, smiling slightly at the idea of Tenzin's annoyance at the damage to the house. "She's looking after them" Derpina reassured her fiance

"thank goodness…" Shyla breathed

"w… what did you do?" one of the healers spluttered

"what?" Shyla asked

"she healed you… the burns that I couldn't heal, even with spirit water, she healed in a few seconds"

"that's my Derpina…" Shyla grinned

"this Derpina… She's powerful"

Derpina grinned at Shyla before turning back to the healer, "where's Korra…" she sighed, "let me have a look at her"

"I don't know" Shyla sighed

"healer, where's Korra?" Derpina asked, "I need to see her"

"over there…" he grunted, pointing into the distance

Derpina stood up and walked over to the other side of the island where Korra still led, completely out cold and surrounded by healers who were still struggling to heal her burns, "move aside." Derpina muttered shortly

"why…" one of the healers growled

"do you want her burns to be healed?" Derpina growled, "or do you want it on your shoulders that you stopped the one person who could save the Avatar from helping?"

"I'm sorry" he said quickly

"so, are you going to move, or am I going to have to make you move?" he moved out of the way quickly, "and the rest of you?" Derpina looked up at them, growling. They moved out of the way sharpish. Derpina knelt beside Korra, her hand glowed blue and she placed it on Korra's chest. She rested it there for a few seconds before she removed it, and all of Korra's injuries were healed

"wow…" Shyla gasped, Korra slowly woke up and groaned from the pain, she looked around and all the healers were standing there, their mouths hanging open.

"Shy!" Derpina called when Shyla laughed a tiny laugh

"I don't know if I can stand…" Shyla said sadly. Derpina ran over to her and picked her up, she groaned and held on to Derpina tight,

"stay with me, you" Derpina whispered

"okay… ow, sore" Shyla breathed

"I'll be a nice hot bath when we get back inside" Derpina, continuing to whisper, "after I've made sure Korra is otay" she added

"okay…" Shyla groaned

"stay with me Shy…" Derpina shook her gently while she walked over to Korra who was lying there, awake but still weak

"I am, just sore" Shyla said weakly, "fuck… ow" she groaned

Derpina kissed Shyla's lips before she healed Korra's white fire burns and turned to the healers, "can you take it from here?"

"we might be able to…" they nodded

"I need to help my fiancé…" Derpina smiled

"how?"

"I am Flame, Grandmaster of Firebending and Protector of the Cycle…" Derpina grinned and kissed Shyla "but the most important thing in the world, forever, is Shyla" Shyla leaned against Derpina with a smirk. "shall we, baby girl?" Derpina kissed her lips. Korra sighed having realised that she couldn't just lose her temper and randomly attack people, certainly not while Derpina was around at least.

"yes, I'm ready" Shyla smiled

"WHAT THE IN THE NAME OF ALL THE SPIRITS WERE YOU THINKING?!" Lin screamed and advanced on Korra, "you burned my daughter!" Lin moved quickly and Korra suddenly had Lin's hand tight around her throat

"Lin, please calm down…" Derpina sighed, although she secretly wished she was the one holding the Avatar's throat

"WATCH IT AVATAR OR THERE WILL BE NO NEXT TIME!!" Lin continued to scream

"mom, stop" Shyla exclaimed

"you're right, sorry…" Lin whispered, wounded

"I'm sorry Lin, but if you try to kill her, I'll have to knock you out too…" Derpina sighed and looked at Korra's scarred chest and sides, a result of the white firebending "hasn't there been enough damage for one day?"

"mom I'm okay…" Shyla sighed, "no need to kill the Avatar"

"I guess" Lin muttered, still angry. She took Shyla into her arms, "it's what moms do" she sighed

Derpina pulled Lin away from Korra, "Lin, I'm not sure those scars will ever disappear" Derpina muttered in a low voice, "nobody's ever been hit by white, or black fire and lived before" Derpina looked into Lin's eyes, "please don't do anything, Lin?"

"I said I wouldn't" Lin grumbled, "now leave me alone to hold my daughter"

"She's my fiancé…" Derpina reminded her, Lin sighed, "let's just all hug…"

"fine" Lin grouched and the three of them hugged. Shyla closed her eyes while hugging her family

"c'mon, Shy" Derpina smiled, "I promised you a hot bath"

"yes, you did, thank you" Shyla smiled brightly

"for medical reasons, Lin" Derpina explained when Lin raised one of her eyebrows before she took a few steps back and took off, her massive wings only flapping once to propel her high into the sky once again.

*

Shyla felt woozy again while they were in flight to Derpina's hideout, "Shy…" Derpina whispered softly, "stay with me babe… we're nearly there" Shyla nodded weakly and Derpina landed in the water, she kissed Shyla's lips and slowly lowered her into the warm water, finally Derpina breathed on it to make it hotter. Shyla groaned but then relaxed, the hot water easing her pain. "there, Shy" Derpina held her afloat, all of her body except her head submerged in the hot water, "there you go…"

Shyla closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Derpina smiled, and took Shyla's ruined top off, she looked down and saw the large scar across her left side, a result of Korra's black fire attack. "oh spirits!!" Shyla gasped, holding back tears. Derpina held her closer, trying to soothe her, "she burned me…" Shyla gasped, "and my cheek has a scar"

"I can't do anything about black fire burns" Derpina said sadly, "Korra used black fire through our telepathic link" Derpina growled angrily, "a link which I have ended so she can't use it again"

"thank you" Shyla breathed

"She's got larger scars than you…" Derpina growled, "I blasted her"

"I never meant anyone to get hurt" Shyla said sadly

"she tried to kill you!" Derpina exclaimed, "I stopped her, the only way I had time to," she paused, "otay, I didn't HAVE to use white fire, but I was so pissed with her"

"it's okay" Shyla reassured her, "it's over now"

Derpina gently touched her the scar on her cheek, "was this black fire too?" she asked

"it became this after they healed it" Shyla nodded, "it's like this forever"

"I'm sorry Shy" Derpina muttered, looking down, "there's nothing I can do…"

"it's okay babe…" Shyla smiled, "I just need to wear make up to cover it, I don't wanna scare the kids"

"I'm considering giving Korra a scar like that" Derpina growled

"it's okay, it was uncontrollable"

"I'm sorry Shyla…" Derpina frowned and teared up

"babe…" Shyla muttered, "shhh, it's okay"

"o…" Derpina gulped a few times, "otay" she breathed in deeply. Shyla opened her arms and Derpina swam to her. "I love you baby…" Derpina grinned

Shyla held her close, "I love you too"

Derpina kissed Shyla's lips, "don't let Lin see the scar" Derpina said seriously, "or I'll have to knock her out"

"she won't do anything" Shyla closed her eyes, "I don't want the kids to worry"

"I can try to teach you the same way I use to hide my self-harm scars" Derpina suggested, kissing Shyla's lips

"please. Anything" Shyla pleaded before she took Derpina's top off, she stopped when she noticed the large network of scars from where Derpina had walked into the jet of black fire to protect her, "oh baby…" Shyla whispered sadly. Shyla quickly realised that some of the scars were new, she then realised that she must've fallen asleep and Derpina had been punishing herself for failing to protect her and heal her

Derpina smiled nervously and tried to change the subject, "how are you feeling, Shyla?" she asked

"fine" she replied shortly, "what are those?" she asked, indicating the fresher looking scars

"nothing?" Derpina asked, before she turned away, ashamed of the wounds

"okay" Shyla whispered and kissed the back of her head, Derpina blushed before she turned back to Shyla, "what?" Shyla asked, Derpina kissed her cheek gently, "aww" Shyla fake grinned, before she gently rested her head on Derpina's chest, she used the opportunity to see exactly how bad Derpina's self-harm scars were. she looked closely at them, and realised they were black fire scars

"baby…" Shyla winced

"yes?" Derpina looked down at Shyla, her eyes full of adoration

"your burns…"

"what about them babe?" Derpina replied, acting innocent

"you're hurt…"

Derpina winced in pain when she attempted to move her arm to put it around Shyla's shoulder. She winced in pain again and gasped when some of the scars came off and several of the burns started to ooze and bleed, "owwwww" Derpina groaned

"oh baby…" Shyla whispered before she ripped her top and held it up to the oozing, bleeding, deep, open wounds "I… thought you'd leave if you ever found out about this" Derpina said sadly

"what? No…!"

"owww" Derpina winced, "it really hurts"

"oh baby…"

"black fire is soooo much better than a blade!" Derpina admitted, she winced, "Shy, you have to understand, I deserve this!" she exclaimed

"no, you don't!"

"I failed to protect you" to Derpina, that was the most horrific crime that could ever be committed by anyone

"it's okay…"

"no, it's not!" Derpina exclaimed, "if Korra wasn't the avatar, she'd be dead for what she did to you" she growled, "I'd have let that black fireball I created touch her, not even a spirit could've survived that much black fire." Derpina sighed, "I stopped though… because she is the Avatar and I cannot harm the Avatar…" Derpina burst into tears


	11. Shyla Alone

A/N: trigger warning

"shhhh" Shyla soothed, "it's okay." Soon after, Derpina fell asleep, and Shyla gently snuck out the blade she had started keeping hidden under one of her hair clips so her mother wouldn't find it with her metalbending, and proceeded to use it to cut her legs, "I deserve this!" she growled to herself while she made her leg wounds reopen and bleed once again, she made them deeper than she had done before and tried not to wince. A small voice in the back of her head whispered _she'd be devastated if she found out you were cutting_ , "I can't be brave anymore" Shyla whispered, _you can don_ …Shyla shut the voice up and cut deeper, crying from the pain the whole while

*

"SHYLA!?" Derpina exclaimed, she woke with a start, something having woken her from a pleasant dream, a jolt of pain. "Shy?!?" she exclaimed louder. When Shyla stayed quiet, Derpina looked around to see if she was still there, she covered her wounds quickly and used a subtle earthbending technique to push the blood-stained water away

"what?" she said weakly

"where are you baby?" Derpina called

"over here" she called back while she bound her legs and put on a robe

"shall we go home?" Derpina walked over to where Shyla was sitting

"yes" Shyla murmured quietly, while she struggled to stay conscious. Derpina teleported them back home and they reappeared in their bedroom. Shyla snuggled with Derpina until the latter was asleep, then she disentangled herself from Derpina and snuck away to a secret hidey-hole she had found recently, where she kept a large stash of alcohol and a few blades, she had grabbed a few packs of her mother's antidepressants on her way out of her house. Lin woke when she felt something thump into the ground a small distance from the house and went to see what it was, Shyla had collapsed, haemorrhaging internally

"baby?" Derpina whispered sleepily, "Shy?" she got up out of bed and pulled on a long top, "Shy?" she repeated, looking around in the dark for Shyla. She created a fireball in her hand and explored the house, looking for Shyla, it was completely deserted even at that late hour, "where is everyone…?" Derpina muttered.

*

Shyla, having been found by her mother and rushed to the hospital, groaned and was too far out of it for Derpina to be able to locate her telepathically, "SHY??" Derpina exclaimed loudly both telepathically and orally, causing Shyla to struggle to wake from her coma while Lin sat by her bed and cried. On Air Temple Island, Korra, who was meditating after practicing her airbending, heard Derpina yelling, and got up angrily to shut her up.

"WOULD YOU BE QUIET?!" Korra screamed at Derpina

"I can't find Shyla…" Derpina growled, "besides, remember what happened last time you got pissed," Derpina growled, "I'd hate to have to blast you again" she said sarcastically

"her mom took her to hospital…" Korra growled

"and I wasn't told… WHY?!?" Derpina shrieked at her

"hell if I know…" Korra growled, "suicide attempt I think…" Korra whispered and Derpina staggered back, shocked as Korra went back to meditating

"tell me where she is?" Derpina growled, irritated by Korra's relaxed state of mind, "remember Korra if you weren't the Avatar you wouldn't be alive"

"the hospital…"

"is the only one?" Derpina snarled before she walked away, "spirits only know why they make the Avatar so young…!" she snarled

"yes" Korra growled

"at least Wan was a grown man" Derpina growled to herself, "you're more of a hothead than me!" Derpina exclaimed angrily, "I'm going to the hospital, if you wanna come along I suggest you get ready"

"no" Korra grunted

"otay" Derpina muttered, smiling falsely. "and a word of warning… next time you hurt my fiancé or block me trying to take care of her, you won't wake for three months. Keep in control of your emotions and don't let them rule you…" Derpina growled, "so long as it doesn't happen again, I'm willing to help you with your bending" Derpina nodded, her wings appeared and she got ready to take off. Korra shook her head, "your choice" Derpina said venomously, "either be knocked out by me, or killed by Lin. A mother protecting her daughter, that's dangerous for anyone" Derpina holds out her hand, "deal? So long as it doesn't happen again, I'll help you?"

"fine" Korra grunted, Derpina prepared to take off once again, and having thought about what she had said, Korra changed her mind, "hey! Let me come!"

Derpina held out her hand for her, "c'mon then, I'll show you a few firebending tips on the way!"

"okay" Korra said and held on to Derpina as she took off

"Korra I can teach you how to control the other elements using just firebending"

"what?!" Korra exclaimed unaware that this was possible, "how?" she asked

"instead of controlling the fire, control the heat…" Derpina explained

"I never…" Korra muttered

"pardon?"

"I never thought of it…" Korra muttered, amazed

"that's cos you can control all four elements…" Derpina smiled

"what?" Korra whispered

"you can control all the elements, so being inventive with one of them isn't important"

"I see"

"watch…" Derpina said, "waterbending…" Korra watched the water beneath them and was surprised to see steam coming off of it, her mouth dropped as Derpina waved her finger and a massive wall of water crashed into the cliffs of Air Temple Island. "by heating the water, it rises and expands, allowing me to create the wave…" Derpina grinned

"wow… that's incredible"

"that's only one"

"what"

"how about… airbending?"

"huh?" Korra grunted

"I show you airbending?"

"yes, I know it, but…?" Derpina moved her hand again and a massive wave of air blew over several boats and part of the harbour, several people we're blown off their feet, "whoa!" Korra exclaimed, "amazing!"

"we have to wait now until we're over land before I can show you the final bending power" Derpina smiled

"okay" she smiled

"close your eyes, Korra" Derpina said, beginning Korra's tuition in the fine art of heatbending. "try to feel the heat surrounding you. There's always heat, whether it is from the sun, or a coal fire"

Korra closed her eyes, "nothing" she growled

"dammit" Derpina whispered, beginning to see why Tenzin got so frustrated with her, "you haven't yet got the mental discipline to do this"

"what?" Korra growled

"it requires mental discipline… here," Derpina reopened the telepathic link with Korra and used it to focus her mind "okay" Korra muttered, before she started, "weird!" she exclaimed as Derpina took control of her mind and focused it

"now try" Derpina encouraged, "try to feel the heat"

Korra tried, but was unable to do so, "I… I can't" she panted

"yes, you can" Derpina encouraged before she created a fireball, "concentrate on this," Korra looked intently at it, "close your eyes" Derpina said, keeping her voice level regardless of her surprise and irritation at how much handholding Korra required to achieve the more intricate or spiritual bending arts, Korra closed her eyes at Derpina's request, "concentrate on the fire with your mind" Derpina smiled

"I can't" Korra said shortly

"I'll guide you…" Derpina said kindly, she gently nudged Korra's mind in the right direction

"w… what?" Korra exclaimed, surprised by the sudden control Derpina had exerted over her mind

"there's the heat" Derpina smiled, feeling the heat through Korra's mind as well as through her own proficiency in heatbending, "feel it?"

"yes" Korra smiled

"now take it, and use it to heat the air…"

"how?"

"manipulate it like you would fire when you're firebending" Derpina guided her, she started bending the fire, "you're manipulating the fire, not the heat" Derpina explained what she was doing wrong, "don't focus on the fire, to start with, you need to focus just above the fire," Korra looked completely confused, so Derpina added, "like this" and she manipulated the heat above the fire, but the fire itself never moved an inch. Korra followed Derpina's movements and manipulated the heat a little, "there you go!" Derpina exclaimed

"do I, have it?" Korra asked, unsure of herself

"yea… you're starting to get it! Nobody else has mastered this"

"really?" she inquired

"only me" Derpina smiled, "we're almost at the hospital, ready for a fight?"

"from whom?"

"the professionals, they are NOT keeping her!" Derpina growled

"okay…" Korra nodded and Derpina landed on a building near the hospital, "what now?" Korra whispered

"we walk" Derpina explained, "last time I was there, I blasted a hole in their roof so I want to get in as normally as possible and try to get her out" Derpina explained quickly

"okay…"

Derpina and Korra walked towards the hospital, "if I use Flame or Derpina, I'll be recognised, a good name for me?"

"Kyia," Korra suggested

"I love that name" Derpina admitted

"really?" she asked, surprised. _but it's Water Tribe?_

"yep," Derpina grinned and walked into the hospital reception with Korra close behind

"here we go…" Korra muttered quietly

"yep…" Derpina nodded before she walked up to the reception desk, "hi. Avatar Korra and Kyia here to see Shyla Beifong please"

"third room to the right" the receptionist said

"thank you" Derpina said courteously, then walked quickly down the white but gloomy corridor, towards the indicated room, _that was… easier than I had expected Derpina_ used her telepathy to say, surprised

"very much so" Korra agreed quietly

 _and we seem to be very far away from the psychiatric department so that's good too_ , Derpina continued, "shall we, Korra?" Derpina asked, holding the door open for Korra, keeping her back facing down the corridor until the door had been shut.

Shyla was lying in the bloodstained bed in the dark room in a coma, both her arms and both her legs were strapped up tightly in bandages, as well as the usual collection of tubes and wires, "Shy…" Derpina said quietly. Even though she was in a coma, Shyla could hear her voice and struggled to come up from her coma

Lin, Monika and Tenzin turned when they heard Derpina's voice, "how did you get in?" Lin exclaimed, surprised

Derpina stood there crying, "it was relatively easy actually Lin"

"She's in a coma" Lin stated bluntly

"my baby…!" Derpina exclaimed before she fell to the floor, sobbing. Korra put her hand on Derpina's shoulder

"She's gonna be okay, for now" Lin continued

"I failed!" Derpina exclaimed, crying more, "I need to help her, but I can't. not in here, that's the quickest way to say who I really am." Derpina didn't immediately notice the doctor who had walked in, but quickly became aware of his presence when Korra nudged her with her foot. "hi" Derpina said, wiping her eyes and Lin looked at her. _My name is Kyia, Lin_

 _What?_ Lin replied

 _I'm called Kyia, that's how we both got in. I'm Kyia from the Northern Water Tribe_ Derpina explained

Oh, lovelyLin smiled, she secretly quite liked the name

 _They're rather gullible here…_ Derpina smiled inwardly before she stood, wiping her cheeks and eyes, then she turned to the doctor, "hi, I'm Kyia, from the Northern Water Tribe, I'm Shyla's fiancé"

 _Can I tease you?_ Lin's voice interrupted Derpina's trail of thought

 _What do you mean Lin? I really wanna concentrate on getting Shy out of here, but maybe afterwards_

 _Never mind_ Lin smiled innocently

"how is she doctor?" Derpina inquired

"comatose" the doctor replied, "we don't know how long"

"wish she'd come to me, but I understand why she didn't" Derpina sighed sadly, _of course if someone had TOLD me, then this could have been avoided!_ Derpina's voice echoed through Lin's mind and Lin realised that Derpina was angry with her.

 _I barely knew! YOU THINK I ENJOY THIS?_ Lin exclaimed angrily, not caring if Derpina was crying or not

 _Please tell me next time!_ Derpina exclaimed, _I could've healed her!_ Derpina glared at Lin and she glared right back

 _Fine_ Lin growled, defeated

 _Lin, outside with me_ Derpina said shortly before she closed the telepathic connection and walked out of the hospital with a huff. Lin groaned and followed her reluctantly

*

Once in the pleasant aesthetics of the hospital courtyard, Derpina turned and faced a very angry Lin, she shoved her arm in front of Lin's face and relaxed for long enough for her scars to become fully visible, "what is that?" Lin exclaimed, her eyes narrowed with shock

"scars from hurting myself, Lin" Derpina exclaimed, even though Lin already knew what they were, "I used to be like Shy is now"

"so?"

"I understand what She's going through, trust me, I'm going to look after your daughter"

"why?"

"I love her" Derpina said, "we are getting married remember, Lin" Derpina reminded her, _I can slowly heal her_ , Derpina had effortlessly switched to telepathy and it took a few seconds for Lin to realise, _I can't heal her straight off like I did before_

 _Ever since she has known you, it's been nothing but close calls!_ Lin exclaimed, having followed Derpina's lead and was now communicating with Derpina using nothing but her thoughts.

 _You think this is my fault? Gee thanks Lin_ Derpina's rage bubbled over the telepathic connection for a minute before she wrestled it back under control again, _either help me get her better, or stay out of my way_ Derpina growled coldly, her rage all the more apparent because of the close telepathic link, _I would've thought you'd want her to get better…!?_ Derpina retaliated coldly

 _I do… and I want this never to happen again!_

 _I didn't cause her to self-harm Derpina growled, I didn't cause Korra to blow up on her! I didn't cause the equalists to harm her!_

 _They followed you_ Lin reminded her

 _That was their own stupid mistake, and I killed them, didn't I??_ Derpina looked Lin directly into her eyes, and she saw in those purple eyes how hard Derpina had to fight to not throw a fireball in her face there and then, and how hard she was concentrating not to yell at her out loud, _I almost killed Korra, the Avatar for hurting Shy! I could've done it too!_ Lin grimaced at that declaration. _If you want me to go, say it now. If you really hate me, take your blade and shove it in my heart!_ Derpina held her finger up to where her heart was, _I have no idea what Korra, Shyla and Raava would do to you though when they find out that you killed me_. Derpina paused in her telepathic blasting of Lin's mind for a second, _and before you ask me to leave, think about Shyla_

 _I am_ Lin nodded, _I'm thinking of her safety_

 _What would happen to her safety_ , Derpina put emphasis on the last word she had just said, _if she woke from that coma and I wasn't there for her?_

 _She'd be safe_ Lin declared

 _Really? Shall we see?_ Derpina touched her hand against Lin's and Lin suddenly watched hundreds of images that poured through her mind, images of how Shyla would scream for Derpina every night and, only three days after she woke from her coma since Derpina hadn't returned to her however much she had begged, she killed herself, frightened and alone. _I…I'm sorry, Lin_ Derpina gasped, _I had hoped to avoid using that particular ability, to see the future_. Derpina stopped for a full minute, in which Lin couldn't stop shaking, _it was horrific_. Derpina admitted, she turned her back on a distraught Lin and walked away towards the centre of Republic City crying the whole while. Derpina paused when she was a reasonable distance away, "you have one hour to decide, I shall return in one hour" Derpina said, loud enough for Lin to hear, before she turned her back on her again and sighed

"back here now" Lin yelled, Derpina stopped and looked at Lin, feigning surprise, "stay" she ordered, Derpina paused, turned around and walked back to Lin. "she needs you" Lin admitted

"I know" Derpina replied

"be with her"

"I need her. I love her"

"go to her"

"come on, we've been out here long enough" Derpina said quietly, "I've gotta start healing my fiancé"

"okay" Lin nodded, she still shook from the telepathic exploration of Shyla's future

*

Derpina and Lin walked into the hospital again, "you will live a long and happy life, with Monika. You two will get married" Derpina stopped her and whispered. Lin nodded and smiled at Derpina, "shall we?" Derpina gestured into the room and Lin walked in.

Derpina followed her in, "we thought you two had killed each other or something the way you two were looking at each other…" Tenzin piped up, to which Lin shook her head weakly, and slumped into a chair

"I'd better get started" Derpina whispered, after checking for doctors she put her hands on Shyla's forehead and started to heal her, "I can't do it too quickly" Derpina whispered reluctantly

"we'll keep watch…" Lin replied

"thank you" Derpina smiled, Lin nodded, "I can only speed up the healing process" Derpina whispered to avoid being overheard, "I can't enhance it or heal it completely" Derpina stood over her for five minutes, "all I can do for a few hours, I'm speeding it up as much as I can, I could get discovered with how much I'm helping" Derpina smiled, "though for her I'd do anything"

Lin sighed and Derpina put her hand on her shoulder to reassure her, "thanks, I'm sorry I blamed you"

"it's otay Lin, its otay" Derpina hugged her

"she will be okay, right?" Lin asked Derpina, seeking reassurance

"she has me" Derpina reminded her, Derpina grinned and held out her hand for Lin to hold, Lin smiled and took it. Derpina smiled, "wanna find out?" she asked

Lin shook her head, "I don't want to know." Derpina smiled and nodded while the other two, Tenzin and Korra, looked utterly confused.

Seconds later, a doctor walked in, "not woken up yet?" he asked

"unfortunately not, I'm getting a little nervous, although it's only been a few days"

"well we might have to turn the life support off" the doctor stated

"over my dead body…!" Derpina growled

"ma'am?" the doctor said

"you are not doing that" Derpina muttered coldly, "ever." She looked the doctor coldly in the eye, "understand?" the doctor paused to think, "you want to kill my fiancé, _doctor_?" Derpina snarled and uttered the last word with absolute contempt and disgust, she was sneering and her voice was full of sarcasm

"no, I don't see the point of keeping her on life support if she won't get off it. I'm sorry" the doctor replied

"she will get off it, even if She's on it for six months!" Derpina snarled coldly

"we usually pull the plug within days" the doctor continued

"out." Derpina growled

"what?" the doctor questioned, surprised

"get out. Now." Derpina snarled loudly, "get out before I do something I won't regret!" the doctor nodded and left the room quickly. Lin and Monika, who had just arrived held Shyla's hands. "fuck this!" Derpina exclaimed, she placed her hands on Shyla and they glowed blue

"what?" Lin inquired

"I'm healing her, just enough so she wakes…" Lin nodded and they all urged Shyla to wake up, she groaned and slowly came to. "Shy?" Derpina exclaimed, relieved, she ran around Tenzin, sat right by her head and stroked her cheeks gently as she came to

"Derpina…" Shyla's eyes were half open

"I'm here Shy…" Shyla coughed on the breathing and feeding tubes and attempted to remove them weakly, Derpina grabbed her wrists gently to stop her from trying to pull them out. "Shy… you can't, not yet baby. I'm here though…" Derpina whispered

"why?" Shyla choked, just about managing to get the word out around the breathing tube, "the kids… they need me" she tried to sit up, Derpina pressed down firmly on her shoulder to stop her, Shyla took the chance to try to tug on the tubes again while Derpina was holding her down.

Derpina stopped her again, "no Shy, you need them, the kids are safe on Air Temple Island. I promise, but you can't breathe without that tube and the other one is the only way you're able to have food with that tube in your mouth" Derpina whispered sadly

"but I am breathing!" Shyla gasped

"through the tube babe. You're on full life support" Derpina lowered her voice, "I can't heal you enough babe, I'm sorry"

"it's okay, but how am I talking if I'm not breathing on my own?"

"I guess they found a way…" tears ran down Derpina's face, "babe…"

"baby… don't cry" Shyla whispered weakly holding out her hand, trying to raise her hand to softly touch Derpina's cheek

Derpina took Shyla's hand and placed it on her cheek, "there" Derpina smiled, "I love you babe"

"I love you more" Shyla challenged

"that's impossible, Shy" Derpina retorted, not taking any notice of the doctor who had walked in until he spoke

"oh, she's awake!" the doctor exclaimed, "how is that possible!?"

Derpina turned and saw it was the doctor who she had dismissed earlier, "I thought I told you to GET OUT!" Derpina snarled

"I have to check on my patient…" the doctor began, before blundering on "we have ruled this as an overdose attempted suicide so she will be placed in psychiatric care at once!"

"you can try!!" Derpina snarled viciously, she let her eyes change before continuing, the doctor looked utterly shocked when he had seen Derpina's brilliant purple eyes but that shock was eclipsed by the fear he now felt, "but if you do, by the time I'm finished with you, you'll either be drooling or cleaning shit off of toilets!" Derpina declared, incensed

"I don't believe you want to threaten me in front of an officer" the doctor grinned snobbishly, trying to suppress the fear that he had no idea Derpina could sense

Derpina simply looked at Lin, "do you want to see? What WILL happen if this bastard gets his way, and this is forced? If I, Kyia, Shyla's fiancé is unable to be with her" Derpina paused before she said the last three words with sickening certainty, "Shyla gets worse"

"I know" Lin agreed, "and I will not force her nor will I do anything if you are threatened"

"so, get OUT" Derpina roared, "and send a different doctor cos if I see you in here again, you're gonna be scrubbing toilets, or worse, and that's a promise." Derpina declared

"very well" he walked out

"dick." Shyla growled, rolling her eyes

"I love you Shy" Derpina smiled

"I love you more" Shyla began, "I wish I could move"

"you will soon baby" Derpina promised

Shyla groaned in discomfort, she turned to her family, who took her hands, "I'm sorry I tried to kill myself" Shyla had an uncontrollable urge to cut because she felt she had failed her family, Derpina gently stroked her forehead

Another doctor walked in and stood in the background waiting patiently to be noticed, "Shy, you have failed nobody…" Derpina looked at her lovingly, "we all love you"

Lin looked around at him and he stepped forwards, "hello I'm the new doctor you requested"

"hopefully you won't think about killing my fiancé like the last one did" Derpina growled, "I want him sacked… now"

"he has been sacked" the doctor nodded, "do not worry, I refuse to give up." Korra was looking out of the window, watching the now-sacked doctor leaving the building for the last time. She smirked when the doctor held both his hands up to his head and collapsed to his knees, although Korra couldn't hear the doctor, she knew he would be shrieking in agony.

"good, you may carry on" Derpina continued as if nothing was happening. Korra watched the doctor as he was surrounded by several people who were attempting to help him to his feet, no doubt asking him what was wrong, if they could do anything, if he wanted to go to the hospital. She watched one run in to the hospital to get help but before they were able to return to help the ex-doctor, he keeled over on to his side, disturbingly still.

The new doctor walked over to Shyla's bed, "how are you feeling?" he asked

"like shit" Shyla groaned

"everything will be fine, Shyla… I swear" Derpina promised, stroking her cheek. She looked over at Korra who smirked at her, Derpina smirked back, they shared in their secret unbeknownst to the others.

"you're in my hands now, I may send you home when you can move!" the doctor smiled

"swear on it…" Derpina looked him directly in the eyes

"I don't say what I don't mean" the doctor said earnestly, and unbeknownst to him, Derpina was scouring his brain for any evidence of him lying

Derpina found no evidence of deceit so she nodded, "good" Derpina nodded

Three more doctors, one of them a supervisor, entered the room, "are we to understand that you are not following the psychiatric guidelines?" the supervisor inquired

"it is unnecessary to lock her up" the doctor in charge of Shyla's care began, "she has a family who can care for her…" he explained his reasoning

"the psychiatric guidelines are clear" one of the other doctors, the one who had overheard and told the supervisor, said forcefully

"DAMN PSYCHS!" Derpina roared, "GET THE FUCK OUT!"

"the guidelines are wrong…" the doctor in charge said, "calm your voice ma'am" he continued, bravely looking directly into Derpina's eyes

"I hate psychs…" Derpina growled, "and finally! Someone who agrees with me. all those 'guidelines' do is trap people and make them worse"

"I have seen them in action" the doctor nodded

Shyla's leg twitched as she tried to force it to obey her brain, "so you three are not needed" Derpina growled, with that, they left the room and Shyla looked at Derpina adoringly. "I love you Shy…" Derpina grinned before she turned to the doctor, "thank you, doctor"

"I love you too" Shyla replied

"would you like to leave now?" the doctor asked, taking Shyla by surprise

"baby?" Derpina asked

"what?"

"do you want to leave?"

"yes. I do." Shyla nodded, certain of herself

"let's go then" Derpina stated and the doctor handed Derpina the discharge papers for her to sign

Derpina signed the papers and handed them back to the doctor, "you have to come back for regular daily check-ups though" he said

"fine" Derpina agreed _anything to get you out of this gloomy shithole_ Derpina whispered telepathically to Shyla who grinned weakly

"okay you can go" he nodded after checking the signature. Derpina picked her up and walked towards the door, but stopped before she left and nodded at the doctor, Derpina gently adjusted her grip on Shyla and took the doctor's hand, shaking it gently, "watch over her" the doctor said, "she has a problem"

"I understand… trust me, I'll be with her forever" the doctor nodded and walked out of the room, Derpina also left the room carrying Shyla, with Korra, Lin, Monika and Tenzin close behind, Lin was carrying Shyla's ventilator and Monika was carrying the rest of Shyla's medical supplies. "c'mon babe, let's get you home…" Derpina smiled and Shyla continued leaning against Derpina

"thank you…" Shyla whispered

"how did you get here?" Derpina asked, she looked over her shoulder back at the others

"what?" Shyla whispered weakly

"Lin, how did you get Shy here…?"

"carried her as fast as I could" Lin walked beside Derpina when she gestured for her to do so so she could keep an eye on Shyla's ventilator and so that the various tubes weren't risked being pulled on, "I'm just glad I wasn't too late" Lin stroked her daughter's cheek and tried to block out the whirring of the ventilator

"you walked?" Derpina said, surprised, "how did you get from Air Temple Island?"

"Tenzin"

"he flew?"

"yes"

"fair enough. How about I teleport us all back?" Derpina asked, "or would you rather fly, Shyla?"

"teleport…" Shyla gasped, the walking agitated her ventilator tube, she was also still quite out of it and just wanted to get home

"otay…" Derpina smiled, relieved and they disappeared in a flash of fire after Derpina took the ventilator from Lin to keep everything that was attached to Shyla in Derpina's immediate vicinity.

*

Shyla clung to Derpina until the teleportation was complete and they appeared at home

"finally!" Shyla mouthed and Derpina led her down on the couch, Shyla groaned in relief and Lin kicked a small table close to the couch for Shyla's ventilator, which Derpina quickly placed on the table and sighed, stretching her back.

"I love you Shy," Derpina said quietly, Shyla didn't smile so Derpina whispered "you otay babe?" and she knelt down beside Shyla, dropping her head to Shyla's eyeline

"yea fine" Shyla said quickly, a little too quickly she realised, she was worried that Derpina had caught on to her desire to cut. Derpina did indeed catch on that Shyla wanted to cut again, she grabbed Shyla's wrists and looked at her sadly, "what?" Shyla whispered

"don't baby, don't"

"I can't stop"

"you can baby, I'll help you" Derpina smiled, she kissed Shyla before Shyla burst into tears, her strong façade was utterly destroyed. Derpina grabbed Shyla tightly and kissed her cheeks where the tears were flowing.

Shyla closed her eyes in despair, "I… can't" she choked

A/N: the next chapter may be incredibly triggering


	12. A Family's Love

A/N: trigger warning (seriously, it gets bad)

Shyla, apart from the daily trips to the hospital to see the doctor responsible for her medical care, remained in her bed for the week after she had got uncomfortable on the couch with either Derpina or Lin by her side at all times. Sometimes Monika came to sit with them when the babies were sleeping or Tenzin when he wasn't busy helping Korra or with council business since the council were busy handing control to the newly elected President. Out of Lin and Derpina, Derpina spent the most time with Shyla, partially because she refused to sleep at all until Shyla was off the ventilator at least and partly because Lin still had her police duties to attend to. Eight days after she had been discharged, Shyla's breathing and, on her insistence, feeding tube were removed by the doctor. He gave her a quick once over and smiled, "there, your lungs have healed enough for you to breathe by yourself" he smiled happily down at the girl who was sat in a chair in front of him. Shyla was also walking short distances, her bandaged legs caused too much pain for her to walk further than ten to fifteen feet and therefore Derpina insisted that she still carry her most of the time. Derpina teleported them home again and Lin grinned at Shyla when she saw she was tube free, Shyla smiled back and nudged Derpina indicating that all she wanted to do was sleep.

Derpina picked her up again, having put her down for a moment to take her coat off which not only kept Shyla warm in the cold hospital but also served to hide her bandaged arms then carried her quickly upstairs and to the bed. Derpina led next to Shyla and wrapped her arms around her, avoiding the tender areas on both her upper legs, her arms and her tummy. Shyla hid her face in Derpina, relieved but also shy after their forced physical separation as a result of Shyla's ventilator. "I love you Shyla…" Derpina whispered contentedly and kissed her

"I love you more" Shyla whispered back

"impossible" Derpina smiled, she kissed Shyla and subtly removed the blade from Shyla's pillowcase without her noticing. Shyla giggled happily, her sorrows forgotten for a brief period of time. Derpina slipped the blade into her pocket then she slipped her hand down the side of her side of the bed, she scooped up the bottle of pills and put that in her pocket too. Shyla led back in Derpina's arms and Derpina kissed the bandages wrapped around her wrists while Shyla cried. Derpina kissed her legs then her wrists again

"I'm so stupid" Shyla shook her head

"no, you're not!" Derpina exclaimed

"I am"

"no, you're not babe" Derpina took her top off, exposing her scars on her chest, tummy and wrists, "we just suffer"

"it's you" Shyla whispered, gently touching the biggest scar on Derpina's battered body, one that went from her left hip to under her left arm and was well over a centimetre wide. The scar was that big because the age that Derpina had lived in didn't have much more than basic medicine and healing hadn't yet been invented since the vast majority of lion turtles had banned bending within city limits so the wound healed naturally over many years. Derpina was able to speed up the end-phase of the healing using her firebending healing before she went to hibernate in the star, but the damage was done and the scar was irreversible

"what do you mean?" Derpina asked

"you suffer too" Shyla breathed

"yea… I do" Derpina admitted, "I have harmed less while I've been with you" Derpina smiled

"good" Shyla smiled and Derpina kissed her, "I love you" Shyla whispered to Derpina between kisses. Derpina slipped the knife out from under their bed and hid it in her pocket while Shyla drifted off to sleep in her arms. She finally began snoring gently and Derpina carefully extracted herself from Shyla's tight embrace. Derpina opened the door silently and nodded at Tenzin who walked in to watch Shyla sleep so Derpina could go to the toilet and sort out the blades and pills she had removed from their room.

*

Derpina crept downstairs and went into the kitchen after using the bathroom. She grumbled, the cold blades uncomfortable on her arms and in her pockets. "Lin? You around?" Derpina called, having placed the wide assortment of blades and pill bottles on the table

"yes" she answered

"I've got the stuff out of Shy's side of the bed and near the bed, I'll search our entire room later while you're all eating"

"okay…" Lin replied and walked over, she saw how many blades were on the table as well as multiple tubs of pills, "what's all this…?" she asked

"stuff from Shy's side of the bed and several hiding places near the bed," Lin's eyes softened in shock. Most of the blades had dried blood on them, especially the kitchen knife she clearly favoured and which she had taken from Air Temple Island's kitchen. One of the pill bottles was also almost empty. "my girl… Lin whispered sadly. Derpina grabbed Lin, teared up and cried into her shoulder. "it's okay Derpina, she'll be okay…"

Derpina hugged Lin tighter and cried into her shoulder for a few more seconds, "please help me keep Shy safe… please" Derpina sobbed

"I will. Whatever it takes" Lin vowed

"thank you, Lin,"

Monika walked in and saw Derpina crying into Lin's shoulder. "what's wrong?" she asked, surprised. Derpina simply pointed at the kitchen table and the assorted instruments of self-harm. Monika gasped in surprise and shock

"a… all from our room" Derpina stuttered, Monika teared up and Derpina cried openly

"poor child…" Monika gasped

"come here Monika…" Derpina suggested, she did so and the three of them hugged tightly. Lin closed her eyes seeking solace from the support of the woman she thought of as her other daughter and her partner, "we'll help her through this" Derpina promised

"of course" Monika agreed

"don't ever leave her, either of you…" Derpina stated seriously

"we won't" Monika vowed for them both, Derpina hugged them both tightly

"we'll be okay" Lin smiled

"you promise?"

"cross my heart" Lin vowed

"good. Good." Derpina smiled, "how will we keep Shy safe?" she asked, wanting to pick the other two minds for ideas

"watching over her"

"I can keep the telepathic link open all the time?" Derpina suggested

"really?" Lin whispered, reassured

"yea I can. I'll try my best to keep her safe as you all have your own jobs to do" Derpina smiled kindly

"I'll take off work for a few weeks" Lin stated

"if you're sure, Lin?"

"positive" Lin nodded firmly, "I'm a mother before the Chief" Derpina smiled at her and she sighed

"I'm sorry this has happened, Lin" Derpina whispered

"She's just like me" Lin said sadly

"pardon, Lin?" Derpina said in a low voice

"I used to be like this" she admitted, Monika looked at her sadly, clearly, she already knew

"you harmed?" Derpina said sadly, before she hugged Lin tightly

"my scars faded, but yes"

"I'd better go and check on Shy in a minute" Derpina whispered, "Tenzin's keeping an eye on her..."

*

Derpina went upstairs and slipped into their room, Tenzin had fallen asleep and Shyla was limping around, searching for a blade. "Shyla..." Derpina sighed

"I wasn't doing anything..." Shyla blushed

Derpina kicked Tenzin's chair viciously, pissed off with him and the force of the kick nearly threw him out of the chair. "come here babe" Derpina whispered. Tenzin jumped and woke immediately, Shyla walked into Derpina's arms quickly, wanting a hug

"I can't trust you with anything can I Tenzin..." Derpina growled angrily, she turned her attention back to Shyla and stroked her cheek while rubbing her back as she burst into tears again

"I can't stop!" she sobbed

"yes, you can" Derpina glared at Tenzin, _YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE KEEPING HER SAFE, TENZIN_!Derpinascreamed telepathically, Lin jumped when Derpina's voice echoed through her mind

"I'm exhausted" Tenzin sighed

"I'd noticed..." Derpina growled coldly, her tone made Tenzin fear for his life. "now I can't trust you with Shy's safety..."

"what's going on?!" Lin exclaimed, having heard the telepathic shout and ran upstairs in a panic

"useless here..." Derpina kicked Tenzin's chair again, "fell asleep while he was supposed to be keeping Shy safe. I found him asleep and Shy looking for blades"

"son of a..." Lin began, "YOU DUMBASS TENZIN!!!" Lin bellowed, Tenzin had the good sense to look abashed and ashamed

Shyla grabbed Derpina tightly, "Shy... its otay, babe, its otay"

"stop fighting..." Shyla pleaded, Derpina covered her ears and held her tighter. Tenzin and Lin stopped shouting, they looked over at Shyla and walked over, hugging her.

Derpina stroked her cheeks, "I'm scared" Shyla whimpered

"I know baby" Derpina kissed her gently and glared at Tenzin. Shyla shivered even after Derpina had clambered into bed with Shyla and wrapped her up tight in both her body and the blankets, she was going through withdrawals of both the drugs she had overdosed on and the self-harm. Derpina cuddled her and kissed her wrists, Shyla smiled and Derpina grinned back. "I love you baby Shy. Is there any name you'd like me to call you?" Derpina asked, "like a nickname?"

"just Shy"

"otay Shy" she brushed her lips gently against Shyla's

"I love you"

*

Derpina looked at her arms and smiled weakly, "we ought to change those dressings, Shy..." Shyla frowned at her, "I'm sorry baby... but I don't want them to become infected" Derpina smiled at Shyla, trying to calm her. Shyla was used to having the dressings changed of course, the nurses at the hospital had done it twice a day while she was in the hospital and then once a day when she went in for her check-ups but it had always been a terribly agonising experience, every single time and since her wounds weren't healing yet, the pain levels hadn't decreased at all. Shyla had always ended up screaming at the top of her lungs from the agony. "Lin?" Derpina called, "can you come and help me change Shy's dressings?"

"you mean hold her down?" Lin's voice floated out of her room where she was sat on her bed reading a newspaper

"no of course not!!!" Derpina exclaimed, utterly appalled, "I mean help me cut dressings and bathe her arms and stuff like that!"

"okay" Lin called back, Derpina kissed Shyla's arms before she started to unwrap the bandages. Shyla flinched, preparing herself for the pain

Lin walked in and cleaned her hands as Derpina just had while Derpina continued to unwrap the bandages on Shyla's right arm, "what a lot of bandages..." Derpina gasped while Shyla panted from the pain. "can you keep Shy calm, Lin?" Derpina said kindly as she reached the bloodstained bandages and Shyla started to hyperventilate, the anxiety from the anticipated pain too much. Lin nodded and stroked Shyla's cheek. Derpina took the last layer of the bloodstained bandage off, she stopped dead and gasped when she saw the massive centimetre deep wounds covering the majority of her arm, the wounds had been stitched back together successfully but it was still obvious that the wounds were serious. "S... Shy!!"she exclaimed, "spirits!" Derpina fought back tears while she cleaned Shyla's cuts of both fresh and dried blood, Shyla sat there reasonably still for the most part but occasionally she twitched involuntarily when the pain spiked. An unaware Korra entered the room and flinched, gasping when she saw the extent and severity of Shyla's injuries, having grown up in isolation she hadn't come across self-harm before. Lin kept hugging Korra tightly, doing anything she could to take Shyla's mind off of the pain. "Hi Korra..." Derpina muttered, somewhat distracted by the grisly task she had undertaken. Derpina rinsed Shyla's cuts one last time with water to wash away the antiseptic liquid she had used a syringe to fill the cuts to clean them, the antiseptic stung in the wounds but Shyla was impressed she hadn't started screaming yet.

"what happened?" Korra gasped, seeing Shyla's arm. Derpina had finished drying Shyla's arm, Lin handed the sterile dressings and bandages to Derpina, opening them as they were needed but careful to not touch the bandages themselves. Derpina made quicker work of wrapping the wounds back up than she had unwrapping or cleaning them.

"it's Shyla's cutting, Korra" Derpina whispered, fighting back tears.

"want me to help?" Korra asked Derpina who had moved on to Shyla's left arm. Because of her isolation and resulting naivety, she hadn't realised someone could do such a thing to themselves nor did she understand Shyla's reasoning for doing it but she wanted to help Shyla in any way she could

"wipe my eyes?" Derpina muttered too quietly for anyone but Korra to hear, "I can't cos I'm covered in Shy's blood" Korra did so promptly using her waterbending, she knew any delay would only bring Shyla more suffering. "thank you" Derpina said, nodding. "can you help me by handing me the stuff I need to clean and dress Shy's cuts?" Derpina asked kindly and calmly, "that way Lin can focus on keeping her calm"

"okay..." Korra agreed, "what ya need?"

"gotta get all this off first" Derpina grimaced, "while I'm doing this can you scrub your hands?" she smiled encouragingly at Lin and Shyla, "Lin, try singing to Shyla..." she suggested. Lin immediately started humming gently to Shyla who calmed down considerably almost immediately, Korra finished scrubbing and Derpina removed the last of the bandages. "these cuts aren't as deep" Derpina reassured them, "but there are more of them." Shyla groaned in considerable discomfort and Lin hummed louder, again striving to take Shyla's mind off of what was going on around her. Lin, Korra and Derpina's efforts worked, Derpina was able to clean and dress Shyla's left arm and left leg, as well as her stomach without difficulty. "almost there babe..." Derpina grinned encouragingly, she looked down and stopped for the first time since she unwrapped the first bandage, what she saw made for a very grim outlook. Blood sept through the outermost layer of bandage on Shyla's right leg, clearly, whatever was beneath those bandages wouldn't be a cinch to undress, clean or redress. Derpina gulped, evidently frightened and started to undo the outermost layer of bandages. Shyla groaned loudly and squirmed in Lin's arms. Lin tightened her grip on her distressed daughter, desperately trying to calm her. "please Shy, try not to move" Derpina insisted. She finished unwrapping Shyla's leg, blood was already running down her leg only seconds after Derpina had removed the bandage and collecting in small pools on the sheet Derpina had put down to protect their bed. The doctors had clearly attempted to stitch the cuts shut, but the stitches were failing in the deepest cut that went nearly if not all the way down to the bone. Obviously someone had repaired Shyla's arteries and veins else she would've bled out in the short time her leg had been unwrapped. "oh Shy..." Derpina whispered, stifling a sob, they were by far the worst injuries Derpina had ever seen and she had inflicted some pretty bad ones on herself.

"what?!" she exclaimed

"it's better that you don't see... Lin, don't let her see" Derpina advised the young woman's mother who was also crying but because of the way she was holding Shyla, Shyla couldn't see that she was crying. Derpina gently wiped up the overflowing blood, careful not to jostle Shyla.

"show me" Shyla demanded

Derpina sighed and nodded at Lin, who relaxed her grip enough for Shyla to pull herself upright enough to be able to look down and see the cuts on her leg, none of which she had any recollection of doing. Korra gasped when she peeked over Derpina's shoulder. "I... I know, Korra..." Derpina sighed.

"this is terrible..." Korra whispered

"please Korra, don't make me cry"

"what?" Korra whispered sadly

Derpina looked at Korra, a pained expression on her face, "my poor baby girl Shy" Derpina sobbed, having burst into tears. Korra moved in quickly and hugged Derpina. "I failed you Shy, I'm sorry" Derpina whispered

"honey, it's okay" Shyla breathed through the pain

Derpina forced herself to stop crying so she could finish dressing Shyla's cuts. Shyla looked down at them, not remembering making them. "what is that?" she gasped through the pain

"they're cuts, Shyla... self-harm" Derpina explained sadly

"but... I don't remember"

"dissociation..." Derpina sighed sadly

"what?" Shyla breathed

"you must've dissociated, you have no memory of making the cuts"

"how is that possible"

"it may have been some sort of self-defence against the pain or feelings. But you must've dissociated while cutting this leg" Derpina sighed, knowing her fiancé cannot be left alone, even for a minute

"clearly..." Shyla winced, "OW!" she yelled, Derpina had attempted to clean the wounds on Shyla's leg of dried blood, having up to then carefully gone around the cuts. Shyla screamed in pain while Derpina did the same as she had done to the deep cuts on Shyla's arm to the cuts on her leg, she screamed and screamed and screamed when the syringe was pressed into the wound to flush out any contaminants or infection with antiseptic. When Shyla wasn't screaming she was panting for air.

"shhhh" Lin pleaded with her, holding her tight.

Derpina attempted to heal Shyla's wounds but she wasn't able to make much progress before Shyla screamed "STOP!!!!!!!" in desperation. Lin tightened her grip and started to rock her daughter, she was humming and rocking and gently resting her head on the top of Shyla's, but nothing was calming her. Derpina cried at causing Shyla pain, "don't touch me!" Shyla panted loudly, "it hurts"

"I love you" Derpina whispered

"I love you" Shyla replied in between pants. "ow..." Shyla groaned as Derpina applied new dressings the attempt to heal Shyla abandoned, for now

"I'm so sorry babe..." Derpina whispered, speeding up her efforts to wrap Shyla's leg

"I love you" Shyla grimaced

"all done!" Derpina exclaimed, proud of how Shyla had held up under what must've been near intolerable pain

"thank you..." Shyla mouthed, too weak and too sore to even speak. Derpina led next to her panting fiancé

"babe... I'm here" Derpina whispered after quietly slipping off the bed to wash her hands while Shyla was in a semi-conscious state from the pain and blood loss

"hold me" Shyla pleaded, Derpina did as she asked and wrapped her arms tightly around her, the floodgates opened and suddenly Shyla was sobbing uncontrollably in Derpina's arms

*

After in excess of several hours of crying into Derpina with Lin gently stroking her head and Korra keeping a silent and watchful eye over them, Shyla's sobs slowly reduced. "you're safe babe" Derpina reassured her.

Shyla smiled a tiny vulnerable pain soaked smile and Derpina put her hand gently on Shyla's now wrapped right leg, "ow!" she exclaimed before she felt a weird sensation in her leg, it was as if the flesh and muscles in her leg were stitching themselves back together. "what is that!?" Shyla yelped

"me" Derpina whispered, her voice gentle

"huh?" Shyla groaned, in her befuddled state she hadn't understood what Derpina meant, she also was confused as to why Derpina's voice had the familiar mystical quality to it

"I'm healing your leg"

"I see" Shyla had noticed Derpina's eyes had also changed

A few minutes later the weird sensations stopped. Shyla's leg felt a lot better since all but the deepest cut, the one that actually reached the bone had been healed to enough of an extent for them to no longer have damaged Shyla's muscles. Derpina had been unable to make much headway with the deepest because every time she had moved in to heal it, Shyla had screamed uncontrollably in absolute agony. "I've done as much as I can" Derpina panted slightly, drenched in sweat once she had done the same to the deepest wounds on Shyla's other leg as well as her arms.

"I'm sorry" Shyla whispered before Derpina went off to have her shower

"why?" Derpina whispered

"I'm a failure" she stated bluntly

"no, you are not, Shyla Beifong!" Derpina exclaimed

"what?"

"you are not a failure"

*

Derpina rushed through her shower as quickly as she could and although she felt better she was now clean without a single drop of Shyla's blood on her, she could hardly call the shower relaxing. she was too busy fretting over whether Shyla was alright or hearing Shyla scream in her head in a flashback-type recollection, again, again, and again. Derpina desperately wanted the shower to wash away what she had just had to do and will almost certainly need to do again the next day but she had no such luck. Derpina finished her shower and dried quickly, she walked in to the bedroom again to find Lin still holding Shyla, her trousers still stained with blood but the cover was gone. "Go have a shower Lin" Derpina instructed, she saw Korra burning the sheet and dirty bandages outside through the window. Lin grumbled but left quickly, clearly torn about leaving Shyla but desperate for the shower that awaited her.

"I am a failure" Shyla grumped quietly, watching Derpina pick up some paper

"no, you're not babe" Derpina replied firmly, Shyla sighed sadly but perked up slightly when Derpina kissed her forehead

"I love you so much"

"I love you more" Derpina replied, a grin on her face.

 _Even after all of that_ , Shyla thought, _here is my Derpina, still trying to win in our game of one-upmanship_. Shylawatched Derpina read through the paper until she had noticed that Derpina had stopped and was rereading the same line several times, "what are those...?" Shyla inquired warily

"doc's notes" Derpina replied

"what do they say?"

"clean and redress wounds daily at eleven in the morning, administer intravenous painkillers four times a day, at six in the morning, noon, six in the afternoon and midnight" Derpina said all of that, stuff they already knew but Shyla was almost certain she wouldn't like what was coming next, "there's also been some temporary damage to your stomach from the overdose so you're going to continue to need a feeding tube and also damage to your heart, so it's going to have to be monitored" she pulled a white box with cables out of the box, "guess that's what this is" Derpina muttered, shrugging

"what?!" Shyla exclaimed, "NO!" Derpina ran to her side and wrapped her arms around her. "I won't be having a feeding tube!!" Shyla declared angrily

"I'm sorry babe..." Derpina whispered

"no!"

"baby..." Derpina whispered, looking down

"I said no!"

"if you won't let me take care of you for yourself, will you let me take care of you for the babies?"

"for the children" Shyla grumbled reluctantly

"and for me" Derpina smiled encouragingly, "I love you, Shy. This will hopefully only be short term while your stomach recovers"

"it will" Shyla confirmed forcefully

Derpina led close to Shyla with her head on Shyla's chest and looked up at her with adoration in her eyes. Derpina stroked her cheek "I love you" she smiled, "I'll be back in a minute" she promised before leaving their cosy but largish room and returned a few minutes later with two of the babies in her arms, Korra close behind with the other two

"my babies" Shyla gasped, the babies smiled, cooed and giggled when they saw their mother, "awww" she grinned

"for these little ones?" Derpina encouraged, once Korra had put then two she had been carrying in their cots

"always"

"so, you're going to let me place the tube before you go to bed?" Derpina whispered so Korra, who was leaving the room didn't hear

"no" Shyla said shortly

"but babe..." Derpina whispered, "you need it"

"no I don't! I eat fine!" Shyla looked down, "well I'm eating now" Shyla declared

"we'll try it" Derpina grinned. Too lazy and too busy comforting Shyla, Derpina used her telepathy to ask Lin to make Shyla some food. Lin bought the food in, noodles, _nice and simple_ Derpina thought, relieved. "not sure you're gonna be able to stomach the food" Derpina whispered once Lin had left. Shyla took the food and carefully ate it slowly while watching the babies who had dozed off

"see?" Shyla grunted, her mouth full of noodles, "I'm fine"

"it hasn't actually reached your stomach yet..." Derpina rubbed her stomach, "but I'm hopeful"

"me too" Shyla smiled

"woah..." Derpina grabbed her wrists gently, below the areas covered by the bandages, "babe slow down, not too much"

"what?"

"don't eat it too fast, I know it's only noodles but if you eat it too fast it might come back up"

"I'm okay" Shyla smiled and Derpina hugged her.

Shyla sighed when the noodles reached her stomach, she groaned but managed to keep it down after some deep breathing. Derpina smiled and kissed her tummy quickly, making Shyla smile. Shyla groaned again and started to feel sick, breathing in and out. "you otay?" Derpina asked quickly

"fine" she gasped

"really" she nodded

"yes" Shyla nodded again but she was feeling sick. Derpina held her and kissed her, suddenly Shyla jolted upright and ran awkwardly into the bathroom, still limping a fair amount from her leg wound

"baby...?" Derpina called, she heard a splashing sound as Shyla threw up the contents of her stomach. "baby!" Derpina exclaimed and ran into the bathroom to tend to Shyla who groaned and held her tummy. Shyla looked around weakly to see Derpina kneeling next to her. she groaned again, Derpina grabbed some toilet roll and wiped the remnants of her meal off of her mouth gently, Shyla panted and Derpina rubbed her back. "all up?" Derpina asked kindly

"most of it" Shyla sighed. Derpina kissed her mouth lovingly, "my breath stinks" Shyla admitted

"I don't care" Derpina smiled and Shyla frowned, "what's wrong, babe?" Derpina whispered, worried about the girl she loved, "you're a fighter and I'm proud of you" Derpina encouraged

"I have to have that damn tube" Shyla whispered

"I still love you"

"I love you too" Shyla groaned while Derpina helped her back to the bed, she closed her eyes and Derpina helped her sit down. Shyla led there quietly next to Derpina, her depression worsened due to the situation she now found herself in. Once she had moved the babies to their own cots, Derpina played with Shyla's hair and slowly she fell asleep

*

"Shy..." Derpina whispered and shook Shyla awake, "baby... I'm sorry, it's just that I've gotta place the tube"

"fuck." Shyla groaned, irritated, "I'm sleeping!" Derpina looked down sadly and a single tear ran down her face, "I'll do it later" Shyla grunted dismissively before she turned over carelessly

"it needs to be in all night, Shy"

"then I won't do it! My life won't depend on that thing," Shyla grumbled, "take it back to the doctor"

"you can't eat... babe if I take it back they'll probably recall you back to the hospital." Derpina whispered reluctantly, "please? For tonight, then we can try food again tomorrow, I promise"

"no" Shyla turned away from Derpina, thinking that it would be better for all involved that she wasted away and died

"you'd leave our children" Derpina whispered

"what? What are you talking about?" Shyla turned back

"if you waste away babe then you won't be there for the kids?" Derpina whispered sadly, having used her telepathic abilities to monitor Shyla since she got back from the hospital

"they don't need me anyway" Shyla growled, she was upset she had forgotten about Derpina's ability to read her mind

"they do, babe, I do too"

"but why me..." Shyla wondered out loud "I'm worthless"

"because you are the girl I fell in love with, and you are the babies' mother"

"I don't deserve it" Shyla gasped, crying

"you deserve it, you deserve more than me and I don't deserve someone as amazing as you, I'm the luckiest girl alive" with that, Shyla cried more and Derpina held her tighter

"I'm scared" Shyla whispered

"why, Shy?"

"I'm not strong enough for this"

"yes, you are. Let's just get through tonight with this thing..." Derpina kicked the table with the medical box on it, "then tomorrow we can try food again?"

"okay" Shyla nodded reluctantly, closing her eyes. Derpina rolled out of bed reluctantly, dragged herself to the bathroom, taking the medical scrub equipment with her. She scrubbed her arms and hands then prepared the enteral tube. Shyla held her breath angrily, angry at herself that she had ended up needing a feeding tube _my own fucking stupidity caused this, I should've done a better job of killing myself_

"please calm down babe" Derpina soothed, Shyla looked away. "look at it" Derpina held it up for her to see, "it's tiny, you probably won't even feel it when it's in" she sighed, "I need you to be looking at me so I can put it in"

"is this really the only way? THE ONLY WAY?" Shyla raised her voice

"shhh, the children" Derpina reminded her, "it's the tube or the hospital babe, I'm sorry, its states as much clearly in the notes" Derpina replied reluctantly

"fine, get it over with"

"I'm sorry, so so sorry" Derpina sighed, she gently pushed the tube up Shyla's nose, she handed Shyla a drink with her other free hand, "drink this" she encouraged. Shyla did so and the tube went past her mouth and down her throat. Shyla coughed and Derpina pushed the tube past Shyla's ruined stomach, using heatbending to guide it. "I love you" Derpina encouraged, she got some tape to stick the tube to Shyla's face, finally, she tested the tube's position

"I hate this!" Shyla coughed, trying to sneeze and cough the tube out of her, "go to the doctor and demand a better way to help me help myself!!" Shyla exclaimed, "I refuse another night of this!"

"it can be our little secret" Derpina whispered and she kissed Shyla's nose where the tube entered it, "only me, Lin and you need know about it"

"I don't want mom to know!"

"otay, _our_ little secret then" Derpina whispered, "Lindoesn't know but she's the one most likely to come in at night to check up on you, and me"

"then I will hide in the blankets or something! Please don't let her see it"

"of course, babe" Derpina kissed her and started to hook the feed bag to the pump and tube, "done" Derpina whispered, she switched the pump on and started the pump, hiding it under the bed. "all done" Derpina whispered, trying to soothe her girlfriend

"now to be dependent on a fucking bag" Shyla growled

"how could I make you feel better about having this thing? Any way? Anything at all, just say. Other than me removing it, of course"

"there won't be a way" Shyla groaned, she looked away

"sure? I feel terrible that you've got this"

"yes" Shyla sighed, the tube scratching her throat, she growled in annoyance at the piece of tubing in her throat

"baby..." Derpina looked at her sadly

"what? What do you want?" Shyla groaned

"I've got to put your heart monitor on"

Shyla laughed coldly, "HA, AHA. NO"

"baby please don't make this a fight"

"I refuse this equipment"

"please..." Derpina whispered, tearing up, "baby please"

"Derpina no, stop crying"

"I don't want you to need this stuff either" Derpina held it up, "it's a few pads babe"

"do you want me to sleep?" Shyla asked

"yes, but that's why you need the pads, to monitor your heart while you sleep. You damaged it with the overdose, they repaired most of the damage but your heart is still weak and recovering, please?"

"for one night..." Shyla conceded

"it'd only take one night for you to die babe" Derpina sighed and Shyla huffed. Derpina gently lifted Shyla's night top that she wore in bed, stuck the pads gently on to her chest and connected them up to the machine, "there" Derpina smiled, "that wasn't too bad, was it?" Derpina whispered encouragingly, she kissed her. "can we snuggle?" Derpina inquired

"I feel chained..." Shyla grumbled

"I'm sorry babe, is there anything I can do to help you feel better? Suggest anything, doesn't matter how stupid it is, anything to make you feel better, please baby, suggest it now" Derpina whispered, she kissed her before she continued, "I'll do anything to help you feel better about it"

"nothing. Nothing at all, but schedule a doctor's appointment, I want to complain"

"let's snuggle..." Derpina smiled, she led next to Shyla

"fine" Shyla groaned, she choked on her tube and remained awake all night. Derpina snuggled with her and played with Shyla's hair, she sang songs all night to try to keep her calm and happy

"are you sure it's worth it?" Shyla choked again on the tube

"what do you mean, babe?"

"me choking like this because of this tube"

"yes, you need the tube to live babe. I promise we can try food again this morning and tonight. We'll keep trying it as much as we can"

"please" Shyla pleaded, "I can't do this"

"as soon as you can eat without puking it up then you can come off the tube, I swear" Derpina promised

"thank you"

*

Good morning" Shyla sighed sarcastically and smiled bitterly, it was nine in the morning and the bag of feed was empty, "wow..." Shyla whispered

"you otay babe...?" Derpina smiled, she turned the pump off and threw the bag in the trash.

"yea..." Shyla groaned, "nauseated"

"shall I get that thing out of you?"

"please" Shyla begged, Derpina gently pulled the tube out through Shyla's nose, "ow!" she exclaimed, Derpina pulled the tube out fully and Shyla sneezed, "ow!" Shyla repeated

"it's out baby" Derpina reassured her

"thank you" Shyla grinned before she groaned

Derpina smiled and held her closer, she chucked the tube over her shoulder and guided it to the trash with heatbending, "I love you babe" she muttered. Lin knocked and entered carrying breakfast as Derpina finished taking Shyla's heart monitor pads off, toast for Derpina and porridge for Shyla

"thank you, mom" Shyla smiled, "easy on the stomach"

Lin left, leaving the two of them to their breakfasts, "hopefully you won't puke this one up"

Shyla ate her breakfast slowly and got sick after, Derpina carried Shyla quickly to the toilet, getting puked on the whole while, "sorry!!"

"no need to apologise" Derpina smiled, rubbing her back. Derpina was immensely relieved that Shyla's feeding tube had bypassed her stomach since Shyla had puked up her meal

Lin walked back in and her face whitened at the sight of all the puke, "hi, mom" Shyla groaned

"hey, Shyla..." Lin whispered, "you okay?"

"yea..." Shyla whispered, "just nausea. " Lin looked at Derpina and Derpina shook her head

"I'm sorry Lin, I can't tell you, its medical stuff between me, Shy and that doctor. I swore I wouldn't say"

Lin looked grumpy, "anything you know I SHOULD KNOW"

"I'm sorry I can't say, Shy doesn't want anyone to know" Derpina sighed _Lin_ ,Derpina forged a telepathic connection with Lin in a matter of seconds, _I promised Shyla I wouldn't tell anyone_

Lin adapted to the telepathic communication faster than the previous time, _tell me!_ Lin grouched, _she's my daughter, I have a right to know!_ _I promised her though, Lin_ Derpina continued to use the telepathic communication which she shielded from Shyla. To her, it looked as if Lin and Derpina were just staring each other down

 _How do I know?_ _Because I'm saying so, Lin_ with that, Lin grumbled to herself and left the room quickly, _I'm sorry Lin. You have my word that it is not life-threatening. I may be able to tell you in time, or Shy may choose to tell you herself_. Derpina closed the link with Lin

"fuck you." Lin cursed angrily. Derpina shook her head in frustration but kept a telepathic 'ear', a one-way link open to monitor Lin who was moaning to Monika about Derpina refusing to tell her anything. Shyla smiled and returned to acting normal again

"hey babe" Derpina smiled, "good morning. merry spiritsday, beautiful"

"merry spiritsday, baby." Derpina smiled and laughed, pointing into the corner where there was a load of new clothes, several pieces of jewellery and a huge fluffy polar bear dog toy, "what's all this?" Shyla asked, amazed

"spiritsday presents" Derpina grinned, "or rather some of them" Shyla noticed the bow on the polar bear dog's head

"this is wonderful!" Shyla exclaimed

"I wrapped the rest," Derpina grinned, "and got Korra to hide them all around the house and the island"

"oh, a game" Shyla smiled

"I closed the telepathic link with Korra so I don't know where they are, as I'm going to be the one carrying you" Derpina grinned, "I told you I was a big kid"

"sounds fun" Shyla whispered honestly

"shall we, baby?" Derpina grinned and gestured out of the window

"let's go" Shyla winked. Derpina jumped out of the window with Shyla, they flew around the building and back in through the kitchen window where they both yelled "BOO" together, making everyone in the kitchen jump in surprise

"WE GOT YOU!" Shyla yelled happily. Lin laughed when Tenzin fell off the chair he was sitting on, he had been dozing again but Derpina and Shyla's shout had woken him up, he had jolted upright, overbalanced on his chair and fell off of it. "HA! PAYBACK!" Shyla laughed

"wha... what's going on?!" Tenzin exclaimed and Shyla rolled her eyes

"getting a little old are we, Tenzin?" Derpina taunted, "my grandad used to snooze all the time, he was ninety-six"

"dad is so old"

"about two hundred and fifty?" Derpina suggested, Tenzin scowled and airbent Derpina out of the window, irritated

"hey!" Shyla exclaimed, "watch it!"

A/N: I'd love to have some reviews


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